This Time I'll Get It Right
by dicloniouslove
Summary: Kaede, the future daughter of Natsu/END and Lucy finds a way to go into the past. However when she is wounded and treated by Sting Eucliffe of the Sabertooth guild her life changes forever. As well as a blossoming love for the new Guild Master. However, how will she go back into the future without any heartache? (Rated T for now)
1. Prologue

Sting Eucliffe, the nineteen year old new master of the Sabertooth guild was busy in his study looking at a piece of paper with writing on it. It seems that Fairy Tail has caused trouble again and it meant paperwork for all the guilds. He sighed as he wrote the letter to the Council.

"Dammit, I didn't know that being a Guild Master would be so hard!" He exclaimed, roaming his hands through his blonde hair in frustration, laying his head down on the desk in frustration.

He lifted his head up again once he heard a crash. ' _It seems to be coming from outside the guild._ ' Sting thought. ' _This will also be a great break for me_ ' He got out of his chair and the study to see what the crash was about.

 **XXX**

A mysterious person was spiraling from the sky towards the ground below. It was a girl with long pink hair, she also had white prostrations extending from the temporal and parietal skull, which were two and a half inches in width and three inches in length. The pink haired girl saw the ground and knew she was going to die unless she used her vectors, which were four transparent arms that could slice, cut, or rip through anything. Vectors can also move through anything without harming it.

'My _vectors aren't that strong now, because I'm injured, but if I don't use them, I'm going to die._ ' The horned girl thought as she summoned them. Once she got two meters away from the ground, she placed the vectors on said ground. However, thanks to her vectors not being at full strength, she landed harshly on the ground cushioned the fall.

"Ugh" The girl said as everything turned dark.

 **XXX**

When Sting arrived out of the doors of Sabertooth, he saw a girl about seventeen years old laying unconscious on the ground. She had long pink hair, white horns, and a black dress that was all torn up. Her wounds seemed to be disastrous as she was bleeding heavily from her side. It seems that an huge spiked iron ball was jammed in her side.

He ran up to her and knelt down on the ground. He checked for a pulse and it was there; she was only asleep. He put his hands on the ball and pulled trying to remove it, but it only caused her to moan in pain.

He took his hands away from the ball ' _It seems that I can't remove it, but I can take her into the guild to get treated._ ' Thing is he was the only one awake moment. Everyone else went home to his or her dorms inside the Guild. He gently picked her up in his arms and felt that she was surprisingly light. She moaned in pain as he picked her up, but she still did not wake up. The doors to the guild were already opened, so he simply walked in and shut the doors with his foot.

Taking the girl straight to the infirmary, he laid her down on one of the beds. Sting looked at her before saying to himself, "How am I supposed to get that ball out of you?"

The girl's crimson eyes slowly opened as she heard a voice. She faced the person that right next to her that spoke. She couldn't remember anything, not even how she got the spiked ball stuck in her side. All she knew is that she had to take it out.

Sting looked at the now awake girl on the bed and saw that her hand went to her side where the ball was. She grabbed the ball and grimaced, but that didn't stop her from pulling it out with all her might. She screamed in pain as it came loose and fell onto the floor.

Sting noticed that the girl was still bleeding heavily and in pain. He checked her head for a fever and saw that she was burning up. He looked at the ball again and saw that it was covered in poison. ' _She's poisoned._ ' he thought looking at her wound seeing poison slowly leaking out from her wound.

The girl looked over at Sting in confusion. She didn't know where she is or what happened to her.

"W-where am I?" The girl asked Sting, wanting to know exactly where she is.

"You're at Sabertooth." He replied to her question.

"What's that and what happened to me? I don't remember. I don't remember anything at all"

"What is your name?" He asked "I'm Sting Eucliffe."

"I'm Kaede Dragneel" she replied weakly. Kaede was getting dizzy from the lack of blood and poison in her system.

' _She must be a relative of Natsu's._ ' Sting thought. ' _The pink hair is a dead giveaway. However, those things on her head, what are they?_ '

"Kaede, you're poisoned. We need to drain the poison out of you." Sting said.

"Okay, I'm tired. I'm so very tired." Kaede said yawning.

"I'll let you sleep, but in the mean time. I still have to get the poison out of you."

Kaede didn't say anything; she just closed her eyes and let the darkness take over her.

 _'I need to drain the poison out of her._ ' Sting thought, ' _But how? I definitely won't call Fairy Tail to come heal her. Not at this hour. Even if we don't have a healing mage in this Guild._ '

Sting heard a moan of pain from Kaede in her sleep. He looked over at her and her side where the poison was still slowly dripping out. An idea struck him as he reached to grab a scalpel from a nearby table. "I'm sorry." He said and slashed at her side where the poison was located.

Kaede woke up screaming as the scalpel pierced her skin. She looked up at him, her face scrunched up in pain and tears dripping down her face. A ton of her blood poured out from the wound and onto the bed where she currently is laying on.

"The hard part is done." He said to her. However, she didn't understand him, because all of the pain she is in.

Kaede tried to say something or at least think of a coherent sentence, but was unable to. All that came out of her was a groan of pain as the poison quickly did it's best to drain out. She then screamed again as her wound began to heal on its own. The poison and Kaede's wound completely disappeared.

Sting looked at Kaede who screamed once more and noticed that the wound he sliced open healed on its own. He has seen strange things in his life, but has never seen a human or animal heal on its own without some form of magic.

The pain was lessening as Kaede let the wound close all the way. She was out of breath from the whole healing process. Her face was no longer scrunched up in pain, but in relief instead.

' _Amazing._ ' Sting thought as he saw no sign of a scar where the wound was located.

He moved his hand to her head and she flinched, thinking he was going to hurt her. When his hand, simply touched her forehead, she gave him a confused yet tired look.

"Your fever seems to have gone down." Sting said getting up. However Kaede gave a scared look not wanting to be left alone.

He noticed that and said, "Don't worry, I'm just going to get an extra blanket for me. I won't leave your side."

She just stared at his retreating form as he left her alone. She didn't remember anything. How she got here and what happened.

' _This is all so fucked up._ ' she thought as she let her head relax into the pillow. She fought to be awake when Sting came here to thank him for helping her, but she couldn't stay conscious.

Sting came back in with a warm blanket and noticed that Kaede went back to sleep. ' _I guess I'll get some sleep too_ ' he thought as he sat in one of the chairs in the infirmary. ' _Not as good as a bed, but it'll do._ ' He then fell asleep worrying over Kaede, the girl he just met.


	2. Confusion

It was a right before daybreak when Kaede woke up. She yawned while stretching her arms out. "Nyu." Kaede said as she looked around the room. She saw blood on the sheets that she was laying on and shouted "NYU!"

The loud sound woke Sting up from the chair as he rushed over to her side. He saw the fear in her eyes and noticed that her face looked pale.

"Kaede, what's wrong?! You look like you've seen a ghost."

"N-nyu nyu." Kaede said scared out of her mind and confused at to why the sheets were all bloods stained. She then jumped on Sting giving him a hug. She wanted comfort, because she was scared and didn't understand what was going on around her.

"Kaede?" Sting said as he felt Kaede shake in fear. He didn't understand what was going on either, but he knew that he needed to calm her down.

He gently released her from the death hug, she's given him and sat her down on the bed again. "Kaede there's no reason to be afraid. Remember, I helped heal you. There was an iron ball sucked in your side and it was coated with poison. So I had to do something to help you."

"Nyu?" Kaede was confused as to what he was talking about. She didn't understand a word he was saying.

"How is it that you only say, Nyu? You were speaking clearly when I first saw you."

"Nyu?"

"Kaede, do you remember anything?" Sting asked and Kaede shook her head while not saying anything. Actually, she couldn't say anything besides that one word. Sting looked at her sadly thinking _'She must've lost her memories.'_

Sting saw Kaede get up out of the bed with no problem at all until she tripped over her own feet. She sat up off the ground with tears dripping down her cheeks. She then began crying loudly.

Sting knelt down on the ground and helped Kaede up off the floor and patted her head. "Stop crying now." He said comforting her.

She eventually stopped crying and gave him another hug. "Nyu!"

Sting was surprised by the sudden hug and kindly waited until she stopped hugging him before walking away.

"Nyu?" She said confused as to why he was leaving. She didn't want him to leave. She wanted him to stay with her. She was new to this world and it was scaring her.

"Nyu!" Kaede yelled up to him and clutched his arm. Sting looked back and saw that it was Kaede hanging on to him.

"Kaede?" He asked her. He saw her shivering in fear and felt that she didn't want to be left alone. He smiled at her before saying "Fine, you can follow me."

"Nyu!" Kaede said happily following Sting into his study where he remembered to work on the letter to the Council.

Sting sat down in his chair while Kaede looked curiously around the room. He sighed, looked at his halfway written letter before picking up the pencil and wrote some more.

Kaede however, continued wandering until she locked her eyes on a bookshelf. She walked up to it and looked at all the books. She couldn't read the titles or anything like that, but she noticed one certain book on the top shelf that she couldn't reach.

"N-nyu." Kaede said, trying to reach it while standing on the tips of her toes as well. However, when she did, she accidentally knocked all the books off the shelf and they landed on top of her burying her in a pile of books.

Sting heard the noise and dropped the pencil while snapping his head up. He saw that the books had fallen and Kaede was under them. He rushed out of his chair and towards the books that Kaede was buried in. He quickly pulled her out of the pile.

"Kaede, are you alright?!" He asked worriedly.

Kaede started crying again, but before the tears got too much he put a hand on her head causing her to immediately calm down. It seems that Sting putting a hand on her head calms her down.

"What book did you want to read?" He asked her.

"Nyu!" she said, pointing to the picture book that was in the pile. It had a picture of a dragon and a human. It was also Sting's favorite book as a child.

"So you want to read, The Dragon's Child." Sting said, picking up the book and handed it to Kaede. She jerked it out of his hands and sat down on the floor. She opened the book at stared at the pictured in awe.

"Nyu." she said, flipping through pages. Sting smiled at her knowing that she was occupied with the book. He sighed as he then looked at the pile of books on the floor.

"This is going to be a pain to clean up by myself." The books on the entire shelves were on the floor and he had to put them back.

When Sting began putting the books on the shelves he heard a noise and looked to see that the door to his study was open. He thought Kaede might've gotten out, but looked to see that she was still on the floor flipping through pages.

The one who opened the door was Yukino, the white haired Celestial Wizard. She looked at all the books on the floor and Sting. Her eyes widened at all the books that were on the floor. She started to help him pick them up, but then noticed a girl on the floor reading a picture book.

"Sting." Yukino said, getting getting his attention.

He turned his head towards her and said "Yes, Yukino." he was irritated at all the books he had to clean up.

"Who's that girl?"

"Oh, Kaede? She's a girl I saved last night while I was working late. She was severely hurt so I tended to her wounds." He answered.

"I see. How hurt was she?"

"She had a huge poisoned spiked iron ball in her side and was bleeding severely. I had to get her to the infirmary quickly and remove the ball also draining the poison out. That's why her dress is torn up too."

"Then why is she perfectly fine now"

"I don't know. She suddenly healed."

"Was it healing magic?" Yukino asked.

"I don't think so. I didn't see any glow or hear her chant any spell to make the wound go away." Sting answered.

"Let me take a look at her." Yukino said, walking up to Kaede.

Kaede heard footsteps coming towards her and looked up from the book she was browsing through. "Nyu?" Kaede asked, confused as to who this girl is. She was also a little frightened of the stranger as well.

"You should be careful with her. She gets scared easily." Sting said, putting another book on the shelf.

"I see." Yukino said, kneeling down on the floor in front of Kaede. "So your name's, Kaede."

"Nyu." Kaede said, nodding her head confirming to Yukino that her name was definitely Kaede. She put the book down as she was done reading it.

Kaede's stomach suddenly rumbled as she said "Nyuuuu." It seemed that she was hungry.

Yukino laughed as she heard the sound of Kaede's hungry stomach. "Looks like someone's hungry."

Kaede looked at Yukino with pleading eyes as she wanted to get something to eat. She didn't know where to get the food though.

"Would you like to get something to eat with me?" Yukino asked Kaede.

"Nyu" Kaede said, nodding her head in agreement.

"Sting, you come along too. You can finish putting those books back up later." Yukino said as Sting put the last book on the shelf including the one Kaede had just finished reading.

Sting walked over towards where Yukino and Kaede were and the three headed out of the study towards the Guild Hall where they could eat their food.

Kaede happily followed Sting and Yukino while skipping towards the Guild Hall. When they arrived, Kaede ran over to one of the many tables and sat down in a chair waiting for her food to come. However, it didn't come immediately like she thought it would. "Nyu." she said as she laid her head on the table.

Sting looked at Kaede and laughed, making Kaede turn her head towards him. "You need to wait for the food to cook before you eat."

"Nyu" Kaede said, nodding her head in agreement. Sting sat beside Kaede as Yukino headed into the Guild's kitchen to fix breakfast.

"So can you say anything other than, Nyu?" He asked her wanting a conversation.

"Nyu?" Kaede replied in confusion.

"I guess not." Sting sighed out as he waited for the food. He then put his gaze back upon Kaede and looked at the white protrusions coming out of her skull.

 _'What are those?'_ he thought as he lifted his hand and brought it towards her head.

Kaede looked at him curiously not knowing what he was going to do. That was when she felt him touch one of her horns.

"Horns? They're hard." He said, stating the obvious as he continued rubbing it. Sting let her horn go, letting his hand drop to his side.

"Breakfast's ready!" Yukino shouted as she brought the plates to the table. Each plate had the same thing, which were three pancakes each, scrambled eggs, and two pieces of bacon.

"This looks good Yukino!" Sting said, picking up a knife and fork before digging in. Yukino sat down at the table and ate her food quietly.

Kaede however, didn't know how to eat the food so she simply just picked up the pancake with syrup already on top of it with her hands. Taking a bite of it her eyes sparkled with delight. "Nyu!" she said as she continued eating it at a fast pace. By the time she was done with her pancakes her face and hands were all covered in sticky syrup.

Sting and Yukino happened to see what Kaede was doing, but it was too late to stop her from becoming a sticky mess. They gasped as Sting got a napkin and began cleaning her face and fingers.

"I can't believe you got this all over you." He said while finishing up wiping her face. He then picked up the fork and cut up a piece of his pancake before saying "Look, this is how you eat it." he began to take a bite of his food from his fork, but stopped when he saw her looking at the piece of food with wide eyes. She opened her mouth as she expected him to put the food in her mouth.

"Fine." Sting said, letting Kaede take a bite of his pancake. Her mouth reached the pancake as she took a bite.

"Nyu." She said in delight chewing the food before eventually swallowing. She watched as Sting and Yukino took a bite of bacon with their hands so she did the same.

When the meat hit her taste buds Kaede dug in for more. She then watched as they took a bite of egg with a fork so she simply did the same. She just mimicked whatever Yukino and Sting were doing.

Yukino looked over at Kaede impressed that she was eating somewhat civilized. However, she was eating at a pace that only one certain Dragon Slayer would eat. "She reminds me of Natsu." Yukino said, looking at Kaede eating.

"Yes, but she is a relative of his." Sting replied to Yukino.

"How do you know that?" Yukino asked.

"The pink hair should give it away and the appetite too as well."

"I see. Well, they do have a lot of common with each other. Maybe she's his sister?" Yukino asked.

"Maybe." Sting got up from his spot saying "I need to continue to work on the letter to the Council. Can you make sure that Kaede won't distract me, Yukino?" he asked.

"Sure." Yukino said as she saw Kaede rub her stomach satisfied that she was full. Yukino stood up grabbing the empty plates as she carried them into the kitchen, putting the dishes into the sink to be washed later. However, she wasn't paying attention to what Kaede was doing and thought that she was right behind her. When she heard no noise, she looked behind to see that Kaede was gone.

"Oh dear." Yukino said worried that she might hurt herself. _'She's still new here and has a mind of a toddler. She might get lost or worse hurt herself in this Guild.'_ So Yukino simply just walked around looking for Kaede.

When she saw no sight of her, she figured that she might be in Sting's study so she simply walked towards there. She knocked on the door and a simple "Come in." was heard. So Yukino came in with a worried look on her face.

"What do you need, Yukino?" Sting asked, seeing the worried look she was giving.

"It's Kaede. She's missing."


	3. Attack

Kaede was in town looking around at all the sights and scenery that were around her. "Nyu." she said, looking at some pretty ribbons that were located at the front window of a dress shop. Kaede didn't know if she should go in and take it or not, but didn't because of a gut feeling she had deep inside.

Kaede turned away from the window and continued walking. She didn't know where she was at, but all she knew that she was happy to be where she is now.

She saw two boys her age talking to one another in an alleyway. She couldn't understand what they were talking about, but she went over anyways. "Nyu!" She said, waving hello to them. The boys looked over at Kaede who spoke.

"What do you want cutie?" Travis, the first boy asked.

"Nyu?" Kaede said.

"It seems that she's sort of a retard." Jason, the second boy laughed. Jason then noticed the horns on Kaede's head and said to Travis. "I think this retard is some sort of demon."

"You think?" Travis asked, looking at Kaede's horns as well. He went up to her and felt them. "They sure are hard. I'll wonder what'll happen if I pull on one of these?" He smirked while pulling harshly on the horn causing Kaede to cry out in pain.

"Nyu!" Kaede shouted, but as she did, she felt a sharp burning sensation on her right cheek. She looked in fear at Jason, who slapped her right across the face.

XXX

"Where is she?!" Sting yelled out in frustration looking all over the guild. _'Wait, she couldn't have gone outside in her condition'_

"Did you find any clues to where she might be at, Sting?" Yukino asked.

"I think she might've gone outside."

"Outside? What for! Does she know how dangerous it is out there nowadays?"

"How could she? She just got here." Sting said. "Come on, let's go into the town and see if we can find her."

XXX

Kaede tried to run away from Travis and Jason, but Travis simply grabbed her. He was holding her in a full on nelson. Kaede struggled to get out of his grip, but he only held on tighter. "N-Nyu!" she yelled out.

"No one's going to help you. Not in this dark alley." Jason said as he brought out a knife. He then placed it near her neck where it drew a thin line of blood.

"Nyu." Kaede said scared out of her mind. She wanted out of here. She wanted Sting to come and save her. However, he couldn't, because he was not there.

"Be quiet if you know what's good for you." Travis whispered in her ear.

"We might go gentle on you if you shut up." Jason said roughly massaging her breast through her already torn up black dress.

"Nyu!" Kaede shouted out in pain, but as soon as she did the knife cut across her chest destroying the dress and causing her to bleed.

Kaede looked terrified at the two attackers and tried to get away again, but the knife simply just cut her skin again. This time on her left arm.

Kaede was then forced to lie on the ground on her back.

Jason then was on top of her destroying her black dress even further. He then noticed the bra and panties she was wearing. It was as pink as her hair. "Pink, huh? That's cute."

He then kissed her on the mouth while forcing his tongue inside.

Kaede on instinct bit his tongue causing it to bleed. That forced Jason to release her from the kiss and spit out the blood in his mouth.

"You, bitch!" Jason yelled out and stabbed her in the leg. He then dragged the knife along her leg, causing a deep, long gash to appear.

"NYU!" Kaede shouted out in agonizing pain.

XXX

While in town, Sting and Yukino began looking desperately for Kaede. They looked inside shops asking if anyone had seen her. However, they all said "No."

They were stumped. They both had no idea where Kaede went. "She must be so scared on her own." Sting said with worry.

"It'll be okay, Sting. We just have to keep looking." Yukino said comforting him.

Sting and Yukino heard a loud shout and noticed that it was Kaede who was screaming.

"Kaede!" Sting shouted and ran towards where he heard the voice. He appeared in a dark alleyway where he saw Kaede being molested and attacked by two boys.

Sting looked at the site in anger and shock as he saw one of them on top of her. He ran up to them and punched Travis hard in the face, causing him to release Kaede from his hold.

Travis and Jason looked at Sting, who had punched Travis.

"What did you two do to her?" Sting seethed as he saw the state Kaede was in. Her black dress was destroyed and all she was left in was her bra and panties.

Sting walked up to Travis and Jason getting ready to use Holy Ray on the two, but before he could even make a move fire shot out of Kaede's mouth and burned Jason knocking him out.

Travis however, didn't go unscathed either. He was burnt on both his arms. Sting was surprised at the sudden attack that Kaede had made. _'I didn't know she was a dragon slayer.'_ he thought as he saw Travis try to move Jason to get out of there. They didn't want to be killed by the two dragon slayers. Sting, the Light Dragon Slayer and Kaede, the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"You two better run before I kill you. I'm not so merciful when it comes to people, injuring my friends." Sting angrily said glaring daggers at Travis and Jason.

Travis gulped before running off, leaving Jason behind. It seemed that he didn't care if he left his friend to die.

"People who leave their friends to die are scum." Sting said as he walked over towards Kaede. He knelt down and checked for injuries. She had a cut across her neck, some gashes along her stomach and chest, but the deepest wound was on her left leg.

"Those bastards!" Sting said, holding the now unconscious Kaede in his arms.

"We have to find a way to get her back to the Guild, Sting." Yukino's tone was that of concern. Besides, Kaede had only her bra and underwear on and needed some care and clothing.

"Yes," Sting went to agree with her, but soon added his own thoughts. "But we need to find a blanket to cover her so she won't get cold. The weather is supposed to get cold by this afternoon, most likely due to a cold front coming through."

"Good idea." The white-haired girl remarked and as Sting now held the unconscious diclonius in his arms, she helped him find something to put on Kaede until they got back to the Guild.

It seemed like forever until she had finally found an abandoned blanket on the streets. Thankfully, it wasn't dirty or old, but the texture was soft when Yukino took a hold it and put it on Kaede, wrapping it around her body.

Sting smiled. "Thank you." He then put his attention on the Guild ahead and then at the citizens walking by. "Let's hope no one gives us stares because of Kaede," he said aside himself. He didn't want people thinking that it was something else instead of the Celestial Wizard and Dragon Slayer getting Kaede to safety.

Yukino assured him that won't be a problem and if people do happen to notice they can just say that she's in need of dire help.

XXX

They eventually got into the Guild and now in the healing room where Sting had first met and taken care of the diclonius. The blanket was no longer on Kaede and was on a table next to her. Sting noticed that Kaede had nothing to wear besides that torn up black dress she had worn over here. _'Oh gosh...'_ he thought, feeling his cheeks fluster in embarrassment, but it slowly went away. 'I should've realized that sooner...' "Yukino!"

The Celestial Wizard came running in. "Yes, Sting?"

"See I you can find some clothes for Kaede." He informed her. "She didn't come here with any other clothes to put on... just the black dress she wore that was torn up."

"Ah, I see." Yukino didn't have to add anything to that, but turned around and headed to a room in the Guild that she kept some clothes. "I'll see what I can find!"

XXX

Yukino had rested a hand on her chin with the other hand on her elbow. _'Man... I have a lot of clothes in here...'_ she thought. _'I guess I should get rid of some or end up donating them-A-ha!'_

She found a creamy yellow colored turtleneck along with a matching pair of jeans. _'This'll be perfect for Kaede,'_ she thought and found another pair. It was a regular white T-shirt with a long black skirt.

With a smile she made her way to the healing room.

"I brought her some clothes. I got her a T-shirt and skirt." Yukino said as she came into the room. She noticed that Kaede was now awake and sitting up in the bed.

Kaede eyed the clothes curiously, wondering what Yukino was going to do with them.

"Kaede put these on. Sting and I will go out of the room." Yukino said, placing the clothes on Kaede's lap.

"Nyu?" Kaede said, confused, but before she could actually go up and ask for help, the two were gone from the room.

"Nyu" Kaede said, looking down at the clothes and attempted to put it on. However, the skirt was on her head and she was still in her underwear, because she didn't know how to put on the clothes.

XXX

Rogue, Lector, and Frosch came in Sabertooth from a mission. It was quite easy, because all they had to do was getting rid of a dark guild.

Lector immediately walked up to Sting. "My mission went well. Of course you'll always be the number one dragon slayer in my book"

That comment made Sting smile as he sat down on the couch in the Guild waiting for Kaede to come out from getting dressed. Rogue, Frosch, and Lector decided to follow his example and sat down too. Frosch got onto Rogue's lap and Lector got onto Sting's lap.

Yukino was in the room as well, she was wondering what was taking Kaede so long to get dressed.

"What's taking Kaede, so long?" Yukino asked.

"I don't know. She should've been dressed by now." Sting replied.

"Who's Kaede?" Rogue asked.

"Oh, she's a girl Sting rescued yesterday. She was pretty beat up" Yukino answered.

"Fro thinks Sting's a hero" Frosch said to Sting.

"Of course he's a hero. He's the almighty Sting Eucliffe, The Light Dragon Slayer." Lector said.

However, they heard someone come down from upstairs.

"It must be, Kaede. She ought to be dressed by now." Sting said, looking towards the way that he heard the sound. However, when he did he saw an almost nude Kaede coming down the stairs with only a skirt on her head. Of course she only had her bra and panties on too.

Sting blushed, trying to look away from the sight he was seeing, but he just couldn't tear his eyes off of her.

"Wow!" Frosch yells in excitement with his eyes wide. "Who's the pretty lady?"

"That is Kaede" Sting said finally tearing his eyes away from her. He was still blushing.

Rogue caught on and started to tease Sting. "I think a certain Sabertooth Guild Master has a crush"

"I-I do not!" He yelled. "I mean, I just met her yesterday how could I have a crush on her this early.

"Fro thinks it's love at first sight." Frosch said.

Lector laughed. "It can't be love. Look at those things on her head. She looks freaky"

"That's not very nice Lector" Sting said to his best friend.

"Well, it's the truth" Lector replied.

Kaede heard that, but didn't understand completely. Although it hurt her feelings so she ran in front of everyone and started bawling. "NYU!" she cried her heart and soul out.

Sting glared down at Lector who just insulted his new friend. He took Lector off of his lap and put him down on the couch. He then walked up to Kaede and tried to calm her down.

"Kaede, calm down!" Sting said, trying to calm her, but she only continued to cry.

Lector finally noticed what he did and looked guilty.

Sting patted Kaede's head, but that didn't stop her. _'That usually works_ ' he thought. _'Maybe this will work'_ Sting than pulled Kaede into a hug.

Kaede's tears turned into sniffles and eventually she stopped crying and hugged Sting back, wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands were around her waist. They were having a tender moment.

"Sting" Kaede said, smiling. She didn't know him well, but she was happy to be with him.


	4. Nana

Sting happened to hear his name and a warm smile came across his lips.

"Sting." Kaede said a second time before he snuggled herself in his vest. Sting felt his cheeks become a little rosy when he noticed that.

 _'It must be the vest,'_ he hypothesized _'It happens to be soft, but I guess she's just comfortable in my arms...'_

He looked at Lector and the others and the rosy pigment he had on his cheeks from Kaede faded. "I am going to help Kaede with her clothes." he told them and saw that a little snicker came from Lector in the background.

He released himself from the hug, causing Kaede to look at him with confused eyes. "Nyu?"

The blonde Dragon Slayer beckoned her to come with him and so she did. Yukino decided to follow in case Sting needed help or not.

Kaede walked up the stairs removing the skirt from her head and held it in her hand. However, before she went up the last step to the top, she fell and tumbled down the stairs falling onto the floor.

"KAEDE!" Yukino shouted out before running down the stairs towards Kaede. Sting did the same thing.

Rogue walked up to Kaede too, as well as Lector and Frosch. Rogue knelt down next to the unconscious Kaede and lifted her up.

"Fro wants to know where Rogue is taking the pretty lady?" Frosch asked the Shadow Dragon Slayer.

"To the infirmary, Frosch" Rogue replied to his exceed.

"Fro thinks so too" Frosch said and followed Rogue into the infirmary, which was on the first floor of the guild.

Lector, Yukino, and Sting also followed them. Rogue laid Kaede on the bed and checked her for injuries. "Other than a few bruises she should be fine"

Sting let out a sigh of relief that he had been holding in.

"You really care for her" Lector said, looking up at Sting.

"You can say that. Even though I just met her yesterday I have this strange attachment to her." Sting replied.

"I'll go get her clothes and change her" Yukino said as she left to get Kaede's T-shirt that was upstairs in the room and the skirt that was on the staircase.

 _'I wonder what Kaede is dreaming about?'_ Sting thought as he sat by her bedside in the infirmary.

 **(Kaede's Dream)**

It was dark and the lights were out in the train. A young Kaede was peering down at the two dead bodies she had just brutally slaughtered. They were the father and younger sister of her best friend, Kouta.

"W-why would you do this to me? I thought we were friends?" Kouta asked, which made Kaede give him a confused, but cold look.

"What are you talking about? The reason why you're still alive is because we are friends" Kaede answered.

Kaede stared at Kouta for a few more seconds before turning to leave from the train that was currently moving. "Next is that stupid girl"

"Girl?" Kouta said, confused, but he finally came to a realization of the girl Kaede wanted to kill. "Yuka"

Kaede took a few more steps away from Kouta, but stopped once she heard footsteps rushing towards her.

Looking back behind her, she saw Kouta come and tackle her to the train's floor. Her head hit the ground as well as her body. Before she could react to the situation, Kouta began banging her head into the floor by grabbing her shoulders.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Kouta yelled out continuing to beat her head into the floor. Tears were flowing out of his eyes as he begged her to stop with the senseless killing. "Please! I'm begging you to stop!"

Kaede could feel tears streaming down her face as well. They were tears of guilt and sadness. _'I only wanted to be hugged by Kouta that's all.'_

 **(End Dream)**

A tear escaped from Kaede's eyes as she finally awoke from her nightmare. She looked confused as to why so many people were in the room with her. _'Stupid humans. How the hell did I get here?'_ Kaede thought.

She sat up in the bed, she was currently in. She noticed that she was almost nude and covered herself up with the blanket.

"Kaede, are you feeling well? You looked like you had a bad nightmare" Sting asked, concerned for his new friend.

Kaede didn't give him a reply though, just a look of confusion. _'Who is he?'_

"That's right. You can't really answer me" Sting said while smiling.

"What are you talking about, you stupid human?" Kaede asked, which shocked him.

"Sting." Rogue said, getting his friend's attention.

"What is it, Rogue?" Sting asked.

"There is something strange going on with Kaede" Rogue answered.

"Yeah" Sting said with Lector and Frosch just staring at Kaede. They weren't sure what was happening.

Kaede saw the two exceeds and began summoning her invisible arms known as vectors. She was getting ready to kill Lector and Frosch, not caring if people were watching. They rushed at the exceeds, but stopped inches away from them as she heard Yukino come into the room with her clothes.

"Here are your clothes, Kaede. Let me help you change" Yukino said and noticed Rogue and Sting were still in the room. "But first let us get these boys out"

"Come on, Frosch it seems that we aren't wanted here right now" Rogue said to his exceed as the two went out of the room. Sting and Lector followed the two, although they were worried for Yukino. They knew something was wrong with Kaede, but they just couldn't place their fingers on it.

Once they were out of the room Yukino went up to Kaede and got ready to change her into some clothes. However Kaede snatched them away with her vectors, which shocked Yukino since she didn't know that Kaede that those kind of powers. She didn't even know what those powers were.

Ignoring Yukino's shocked face, Kaede said "I can put these on myself." Kaede stood up out of the bed letting the blanket fall to the floor. She began to put on the clothes, first the T-shirt and then the skirt.

Once that was done Kaede began walking to the door, but was stopped by Yukino. She looked at the white haired celestial mage and said "What?"

"Tell me, how did you learn to talk like that?" Yukino asked.

"None of your business" Kaede said coldly before walking out the door of the infirmary.

 _'Sheesh. I didn't know Kaede was so rude'_ Yukino thought as she walked with Kaede out the door. They then proceeded through the halls and down the stairs where Rogue, Sting, Frosch, and Lector were at.

Kaede began walking to the couch that they four were on. Lector was in Sting's lap while Frosch was in Rogue's lap. That meant there were room for both Yukino and her to sit down too.

Kaede's eyes narrowed as she sensed an all too familiar presence. One that she hadn't felt in a long time and didn't expect to feel again. "I thought I got away from them." she said before heading out the door of Sabertooth.

"Kaede, where are you going?" Sting asked before getting up and walking over to her.

"To teach a stupid girl a lesson" Kaede replied and walked out the door.

"We should follow her" Rogue suggested.

"Fro thinks so too" Frosch said and Yukino, Sting, Frosch, Lector, and Rogue followed Kaede out the door.

When they got outside, they saw that Kaede was face to face with another horned girl. This horned girl has short pink hair and maroon colored eyes.

"Lucy-san" The horned girl said to Kaede.

"What do you want, Nana?" Kaede asked, staring coldly at the young sixteen year old diclonius.

"I've come to take you back with me. The others are worried about you. Kouta is worried about you" Nana said not the least unnerved with Kaede's cold gaze.

"Don't lie to me Nana, I'm not wanted there." Kaede said.

"I'm not lying. Kouta, Mayu, and Yuka misses you. I even miss you. After what you've done to me in the past I shouldn't." Nana said, pulling off her left prosthetic arm.

Kaede looked at Nana in guilt, remembering the day she had mercilessly ripped off all of Nana's four limbs.

"I won't come back, even if you beg" Kaede said.

Nana sighed "I'd known you would say that"

"What is happening at the Maple Inn?" Kaede asked.

Sting, Rogue, Yukino, Lector, and Frosch looked at the two in confusion. They didn't know who this girl was and why she called Kaede, Lucy.

"Wait a minute here!" Sting said, slightly raising his voice interrupting Nana and Kaede's conversation.

Nana and Kaede looked at the five that were watching them. "Lucy-san, who are these people?"

"I guess you can call them my friends"

"Why is this girl calling you, Lucy? Isn't your name, Kaede?" Sting asked talking to Kaede.

"It is" Kaede said to Sting.

"Then why?" Sting asked.

"Let's just say that when I was captured, they decided to call me Lucy" Kaede answered.

"Yes, Lucy-san has done a lot of bad things. She has killed a lot of people in her life and that's why she was captured."

"I see." Rogue said and asked "How did you escape your imprisonment?"

"By killing the guards that held me there" Kaede answered him.

"You asked me before what's happening at the home, right?" Nana asked

"Yes, I did" Kaede replied.

"Well Mayu and Bandou are boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Good for them" Kaede said, happy for Mayu knowing that she had a crush on the ex-SAT soldier. 'They finally got together'

"Well, after that, Kouta and Yuka got married." Nana continued.

"I see." Kaede said and felt her heart break. _'I knew this would happen since no one would fall for their family's killer, but why does it hurt so much.'_

"The best news is that they have a baby girl too" Nana said.

"What's her name?" Kaede asked.

"Nyu" Nana answered.

"Is she-?" Kaede asked, but was unable to finish her question.

"A diclonius?" Nana asked then said "No she's not. She's a healthy human baby girl"

"I see. I'm glad for them" Kaede lied, feeling tears drip down her cheeks

"Lucy-san" Nana said going up to Kaede, but stopped in fear of what Kaede would do to her.

Before the crying got worse, Kaede changed back to her other self. "Nyu" Kaede said in confusion, wondering how she got outside the guild in the first place.


	5. Nana Helpless

"Oh no..." Nana gasped when she saw Kaede change, but was confused about why her personality changed so fast. She could only hear Kaede say "Nyu..." in between her sobs.

'This is not good...' Nana bit her bottom lip. _'Kaede has gone to that innocent personality of hers, because of the baby's name. What should I do...?'_

She took one step forward, seeing if comforting the other diclonious would work. Sting beat her to it, and set his eyes on the crying, pink-haired girl.

"Kaede," Sting said. "why are you sobbing over a friend of yours getting married and having a kid?"

The tears stopped flowing down Kaede's face as she looked up at the blonde Dragon Slayer. "Nyu...?"

"Is it because..." Sting's eyes widened as he thought over the question he just asked Kaede. _'She had feelings for this Kouta...'_ that conclusion came up in his head.

Kaede nodded, "Nyu." She then looked away, saying the same word two more times.

Nana's pink eyes shifted from Sting, then to Kaede. _'Poor Lucy-san...'_ she thought. _'She is heartbroken by Kouta marrying Yuka and having a kid...'_ the sixteen year old diclonius, then thought about her mission, which was to bring Kaede back to the present. She went over it one more time, and decided on something.

However, she held onto her hands nervously, despite her mind being the decisive one right now. "I...I should probably stay with Lucy-san. I'm pretty sure she is heartbroken by the news and truly misses them."

"That sounds like a good idea." Yukino spoke up, locking her eyes on the light pink-haired diclonius for the first time. "But what happens if you bring up something that causes Kaede to shift these... these personalities that she has? It might be harmful to her."

Nana hadn't considered that, but didn't believe it to be harmful. Taking that back, she knew that the Voice could be harmful to Kaede, due to its demands, it gives the diclonius to kill...kill innocent people.

"I will make sure not to bring up anything that will bother her and cause her to change like she does." Nana promised.

"Well then," Sting spoke up. "You wouldn't mind joining Sabertooth for the time being, would you? You could probably help us with Kaede."

Nana looked wide eyed at him, but then her eyes relaxed as a warm smile appeared on her lips. "Sure."

Nana's stomach rumbled as a blush appeared across her face. She didn't say anything though, because she didn't want to trouble them.

"It seems that you're hungry" Rogue said then turned to go back inside. "You can come in and eat if you must" He then went inside the guild.

Sting laughed and went inside too, as well as Kaede, Yukino, and Nana.

Nana practically ran in the building wondering where the food was. "Food! I can't wait until the food comes!" she shouted and grinned.

"Nyu!" Nyu shouted as well.

"They sure are childish" Rogue said with Yukino and Sting agreeing with him.

"Well, I can get some cookies out of the kitchen for us to eat." Yukino suggested.

"Can you get them? I'm getting hungry too" Sting said and Yukino went to the kitchen to get the cookies.

When she came back, she had a tray full of bird shaped cookies.

"Look they are shaped like little birds" Nana said, staring at them in happiness as well as Kaede who did the same thing.

"Let's eat now!" Nana said grabbing a cookie and started eating it. "Yum"

Kaede just stared at the cookie wanting one too. "Nyu"

"Come on, Lucy-san try one. They are good." Nana said, giving Kaede a cookie, which she grabbed.

Kaede stuck it in her mouth and ate it. "Nyu!" Kaede said and grabbed more.

"I guess we should eat some too before they are all gone" Yukino said and grabbed some cookies as well.

Rogue grabbed one as well and decided to give it to Frosch. "Here take one"

Frosch grabbed it and ate it "Fro thinks these are good." The exceed them hopped onto the table and started eating them.

"I guess I'll have some too if everyone else is having them" Lector said and grabbed some as well.

Rogue and Sting also grabbed some. In no time all the cookies were gone.

"I'm stuffed" Sting said, patting his belly.

"Nyu" Kaede said copying what Sting was doing since she was full as well.

Sting decided to ask Nana a question. "Why do you look the same as Kaede?"

"Hmm. Well, all diclonius look like this. We were born with horns, pink hair, and eyes."

"What's a diclonius?" Yukino asked.

"Umm... well how can I explain this? Goodness, I'm not that good at explaining stuff like this" Nana said slightly embarrassed.

"That's alright. Just tell us the best you can" Yukino said with a smile.

"A diclonius is the evolution of humankind and their purpose is to eradicate the whole human race and replace it with the diclonius kind."

"That's bad" Sting said as he looked at the two diclonius in front of him.

 _'I didn't know that the two were so dangerous' Rogue thought as he also looked at them. 'Is it even safe for us to let them be here'_

"We have a voice in our heads that tells us to kill humans. It's quite annoying to be honest. I never listened to it and refuse to listen and because of that I never killed anyone before. However, Lucy-san listened to it and has killed a lot of people. She was the one who took all my limbs and laughed while doing it too, but I can see that Lucy-san changed a lot since then. I also don't think she'll kill anymore or at least I hope so." Nana said finishing what she was saying.

"I see." Yukino said and saw Kaede yawn. "It seems it's time for bed." She then stood up and beckoned Kaede to come with her. "Come on, let's get you changed into a nightgown"

"Nyu!" Kaede said and followed her.

"What am I supposed to wear?" Nana said to Yukino before she got too far.

"You can follow us and I can give you an outfit to wear" Yukino answered her.

Nana nodded her head before following them too.

Sting and Rogue decided to go to their rooms in the guild. You see the Sabertooth guild has its own dormitory and the rooms are pretty close together as well.

"I guess I should get some rest too" Sting said as he stood up and walked away towards his room with Lector following.

"Fro wants to go to bed too" Frosch said. Rogue smiled at him.

"Come on. Let's go to our room" Rogue said and Frosch followed Rogue as they went to their room as well.

Yukino, Nana, and Kaede reached Kaede's room and Yukino decided to look in one of the drawers for a nightgown for Kaede to wear.

Yukino took out two nightgowns and handed one to Nana "I'm sure you can change by yourself?" She asked.

"Yes, I can" Nana answered as she grabbed the red nightgown. She stripped down to her bra and panties in front of Yukino and Kaede and put the nightgown on.

Yukino then looked at Kaede and said "Okay. Let's get you dressed." She then changed Kaede into a blue nightgown.

"Nyu" Kaede yawned and crawled into the bed not caring if Yukino and Nana were there. Light snores came from Kaede signaling that she was fast asleep.

"Nana you can sleep in this room. We have two beds here"

"I see. I'll be glad to sleep here." 'I'll also keep an eye on Lucy-san in case anything happens' she thought staring at the sleeping Kaede.

"Well, I'll be going to my room now. Goodnight, Nana."

"Goodnight, Yukino" Nana said while yawning. She then proceeded to go to her bed and fell asleep.

An hour passed when Nana felt a strange presence. It wasn't like the Lucy-san she knew when she changed personalities. It was different and much more evil.

Her eyes shot open as she stared at Kaede who had an evil glint in her eyes.

"L-Lucy-san what are you doing?" Nana asked in fear of her life.

"Killing you" Kaede simply answered as her vectors went around Nana's neck choking her.

"I can't breathe. Stop this Lucy-san"

"I refuse"

Nana summoned a vector and punched Kaede in the gut, making her release her hold on Nana.

"Lucy-san what happened to you? Why are you doing this?"

"You're a traitor and traitors deserve to be killed" Kaede answered.

Nana realized one thing. This wasn't Lucy-san. "Y-you're not Lucy-san"

"About time you figured that out" Kaede said before getting ready to silence Nana.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the one who told Kaede here to kill" Kaede grinned as she laughed. However the laugh was evil and sent chills down Nana's spine.

"You won't kill me. I refuse to let you kill me"

"We'll see about that, traitor."

Nana glared at Kaede and pushed her away with her vectors and proceeded to run out the door and into the hallway. She was scared for her life and felt that Kaede was following her. However Kaede was walking towards her and not running.

 _'I-if Lucy-san gets two meters within range. I'm done for'_ Nana thought as she continued to run. She ran until she was out of breath. She had stopped in front of Rogue's and Frosch's room.

Nana saw that Kaede was there behind her. Nana turned around and screamed, knowing that she was no match for Kaede. "H-help." she said quietly. "HELP!"

 **XXX**

Rogue was currently lying awake in his bed with Frosch sleeping beside him. He had many things running through his mind and couldn't sleep.

However Rogue heard a scream coming outside his room. _'That sounded like Nana'_ he thought as he rushed outside his room.

When he got outside, he saw Nana on the floor with one of her prophetic legs lying across the hall.

"N-no, no more. I can't live through this again" Nana said as she begged Kaede to stop.

"All that is left is your head, right?" Kaede grinned "I guess I'll have to take that too" she then laughed knowing that she was within two meters of the other diclonius.

"Kaede" Rogue said facing her. Kaede turned towards him taking her attention off of Nana.

"What do you want, human?" Kaede asked.

"Why are you doing this to Nana? Isn't she your friend?"

"That traitor, my friend? Don't make me laugh. That human loving 'thing' can never be my friend" Kaede smiled wickedly at Rogue and Nana.

The three heard footsteps as they saw Sting and Yukino arrive there.

"What's wrong?! We heard screaming" Yukino said and looked at the state Nana was in. She saw that one of Nana's prosthetic limbs were right across the hall and that Kaede was standing right on top of her getting ready to end Nana's life.

"What is this?" Sting said, looking at the scene before him.

"Be careful. This isn't the Lucy-san we know" Nana warned

"What do you mean she's not the one we know?" Sting asked.

"The traitor's right. I am not the one you know."

"Who are you then?" Rogue asked, standing in front of Nana blocking her from Kaede.

"I am the one who tells Kaede to kill humans. Thanks to me she had a horrible life. However to me, I had fun" Kaede grinned sadistically as she turned to Yukino. "I guess it will be fun torturing this white haired girl"

"You are not touching Yukino" Sting said, getting ready to get in front of Yukino, but Kaede's vectors were quicker. She quickly lifted Yukino up by her throat and into the air.

"I can't breathe" Yukino choked out.

"I wonder if I should suffocate you to death, but that will be boring. So I'll just rip your limbs off one by one" Kaede said.

Nana glared at Kaede and summoned her vectors. She quickly put them inside of Kaede's skull and disabled her vectors. That made Kaede drop Yukino to the floor.

Sting went straight to Yukino's side while she coughed and gasped for air.

"Yukino, are you alright?" Sting asked his friend.

"I'm alright. I'm just a little sore around the neck" Yukino answered.

Sting glared at Kaede and said "How can you do this?"

"I was bored" Kaede simply answered. She was scared though. Her vectors were canceled and she was completely and utterly helpless.

"Shadow dragon's slash!" Rogue shouted rushing at Kaede striking her which knocked her down onto the floor.

 _'I'm going to die'_ Kaede thought still scared.

Rogue could see the fear in her eyes and wondered why she was so scared when she wasn't before.

"Why are you scared?" Rogue asked her.

"It's because I canceled out her vectors. She can't do anything now." Nana answered Rogue for Kaede.

"She can't even use a Dragon Slayer move?" Sting asked.

"What's a Dragon Slayer?" Kaede asked.

"You don't know what a Dragon Slayer is?" Rogue asked.

Kaede stayed silent, not answering Rogue. She was starting to become weak and her personality was shifting back. However, she was fighting it with all her might.

"I don't know what a Dragon Slayer is either" Nana said, confused as to what Sting and Rogue were talking about.

"I probably know a way to get Kaede back to her other personality" Sting said, walking up to Kaede who moved back until she touched the wall.

"Stay away. Stay away!" Kaede said, watching as Sting got closer to her. She closed her eyes, waiting for death to come, but what she didn't expect was him, wrapping his arms around her in a gentle hug.

"W-what?" Kaede said confused. She has never had this kind of contact before and always thought that humans were creatures to kill. She tried to struggle out of his grip, but Sting only held on tighter. Eventually Kaede returned to her innocent personality.

"N-Nyu?" Kaede said and Sting let go, knowing that her evil personality was gone.

"S-sorry. Kaede, sorry" Kaede repeated the same words over and over again while crying. She, however, didn't know why she was sorry, how she got to the hall, or why everyone was in the state they were in.

Nana managed to crawl towards her prophetic leg and put it back on. She stood up and walked over to Kaede and patted her head. "It's alright, Lucy-san. No one is going to hurt you" Nana smiled.

Nana then looked sternly at Rogue, Yukino, and Sting. "We need to do something about the, Voice"

"I agree" Rogue answered her back.

"But how can we? We barely know Kaede." Yukino asked.

"Yes, but somehow we have to get rid of it" Sting answered.

"It's impossible to get rid of it. It's part of our DNA, we were born with this instinct to kill and the Voice is that instinct. All we can do is suppress it" Nana said.

Nana then yawned as well as Kaede. "I'm tired. So I want to go to bed"

"Nana sleep with Kaede" Kaede said, trying to get Nana to come into the room with her that they were previously in.

Nana, however, was scared that the Voice would come back and shook her head, no. _'I don't think I can do this. I'm too scared'_ Nana shivered in fear and Rogue noticed this.

"I'll have Nana sleep with me. You others head off to bed" Rogue said.

"Then I'll have Kaede sleep with me, just in case something happens." Sting said.

"Yes. Well, if we are all going to bed, I'm going to go to my room and get some sleep" Yukino said. "Goodnight everyone"

Everyone said their good night's and went to their rooms to go to sleep.


	6. Beaten

Nana woke up the next morning. Her vision a little blurry as she did so, but returned to normal not so long after. She stretched, and noticed that her arm almost hit a person next to her face. She was silent for a moment and then noticed the arm wrapped around her. Her maroon eyes locked on the dark-haired Dragon Slayer, Rogue who happened to be the person next to her.

Nana's eyes widened as she tried moving out of the bed. However, she fell off instead with one of her prosthetic limbs falling on the floor next to her.

Rogue's eyes opened as he heard the 'thump'. He sat up and looked at the ground where Nana was currently down on. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking at her. It seemed that one of her prosthetic limbs was not attached to her. "Do you need some help?"

"No, I can manage" Nana answered as she picked up her prosthetic limb and reattached it to her body. She noticed Rogue's eyes on her and blushed wondering what he wanted.

"How did you lose your arms and legs?" He asked her.

"Lucy-san did this to me. I was sent to bring Lucy-san back to the facility. However, she won, but she didn't stop there; she ripped off my limbs while laughing. I almost died too." Nana sadly answered, her mind going back to the time where Kaede ripped off her arms and legs.

"Has she really changed since then?" Rogue asked.

"I believe so. However the Voice still tries to control her. It was Lucy-san who did this to me and not the Voice" Nana answered his question.

"Kaede willingly did that to you?"

"Yes, she did. I heard she wasn't treated kindly in her past and that's why she used to kill. You can ask her yourself. However, I don't sense her presence."

Rogue looked at Nana confused as to what she meant by sensing Kaede's presence.

"Oh. We diclonius can sense where each other are over a certain distance. As long as we're in the same town or city we can know where each other are."

"I see" Rogue said while looking away.

Nana wondered why he was looking away from her and began to ask, what was wrong. However, when she was about to he faced her way again.

"We should get dressed" Rogue said to Nana.

' _In the same room?_ ' she thought then shook her head to clear those dirty thoughts away. ' _No, I can't think that. I'm too young to think those thoughts_ '

Rogue began to ask what was wrong, but before he could Nana dashed out the door; her face completely red.

XXX

Nana was currently sitting on the couch in the living room of the guild. She was still red in the face and had many thoughts running through her mind.

She heard footsteps and saw Yukino coming towards her to sit on the couch as well. Nana refused to look at her afraid that she would see her blush.

"What's wrong, Nana?" Yukino asked.

"D-dressed. R-Rogue. S-same room." Nana stuttered looking right at Yukino, which made Yukino think that Rogue got dressed right in front of Nana.

' _No wonder she's freaking out. I'll have to have a good talk with Rogue when he comes in here_ '

A few minutes later Rogue walked into the room with his regular clothes on. He saw Nana on the couch looking down at her feet, refusing to look at him. He was curious about the way she was acting and walked up, sitting down on the couch next to her.

' _Why am I acting this way towards Rogue? I only met him yesterday. Could this be love at first sight. Impossible there's no such thing or maybe there is_.' Nana thought looking right into his red eyes, her blush slowly disappearing.

Rogue raised his hand up to feel her head. "It seems that you don't have a fever"

The action made Nana blush again and think. ' _Damn, why do I feel so nervous around this guy_ '

"Rogue I think you need to get away from Nana for now. It seems that Nana is feeling slightly nervous."

"Alright" Rogue said and walked away to get something to eat in the kitchen part of the guild.

"Nana you can come eat soon if you want to. I and Rogue will be in the kitchen. Sting and Kaede should be coming down shortly as well."

"Okay" Nana said watching Yukino leave.

Hearing footsteps Nana looked to her right to see Kaede and Sting there.

"I see you're awake, Nana" Sting said as she nodded.

Kaede ran up to her and gave her a hug, which shocked her.

"L-Lucy-san what are you doing?" Nana asked.

"Hug" Kaede said getting off of Nana.

' _That was strange. Although I should be used to it by now_ ' Nana thought.

"Okay, so who wants to get something to eat?" Sting suggested.

Kaede raised her hand, saying "Nyu!"

"That's a yes for Kaede. What about you Nana?" Sting said, looking at her.

"I guess I can get some food too" Nana said then thought. ' _Although with Rogue in there I feel nervous_ '

XXX

Yukino was sitting on the opposite side of Rogue with a stern look in her eyes. "What did you do to Nana?" she asked him.

"I did nothing. All I said was that we needed to get dressed and then she bolted out of the room" He answered her.

"I see. So she must've misunderstood you" Yukino said.

"I wonder what she could've misunderstood" Rogue wondered.

"She must've thought that you two would get dressed in front of each other"

"So basically she had her head in the gutter" Rogue sighed out as he thought about Nana.

"Yes" Yukino said and wondered if Rogue was thinking of Nana. "What are you thinking of, Rogue?" she asked.

"Nothing," He lied as he saw Sting, Kaede, and Nana come to the kitchen. It seemed that the food was already placed on the table.

Nana immediately ran up and sat right beside Rogue, despite her being nervous around him. Nana flashed him a smile, but it seemed that he didn't see her. She frowned and focused her attention on the food.

Kaede and Sting sat down by each other, but they didn't eat. Not until Frosch and Lector got into the room too.

"What's taking Frosch and Lector, so long?" Yukino asked.

"I don't know" Sting answered worried because Lector was taking too long. He and Kaede decided to go down because Lector was still sleeping and he refused to wake him.

Rogue was also waiting for Frosch.

"Fro is here!" Frosch yelled out flying down with Lector after him.

"Wait up, Frosch!" Lector yelled back to him. In no time the two exceeds were at the table too. Frosch and Lector landed on the table in front of their plates which were also set out for them by Yukino.

Frosch took a piece of muffin and put it in his mouth. "Fro thinks this is good" He went to take another bite.

Nana smiled at Frosch and said to him, "You're cute"

"Fro thinks so too" Frosch said taking another bite of muffin.

Nana took a bite of her own too, and in no time she was done eating. Frosch was done too.

However the others weren't. They were taking their time eating their breakfast.

"Fro wants to know your name?" Frosch asked Nana as he jumped into her lap.

"Well, I'm Nana. What is your name?" Nana answered him.

"Fro name is Frosch but you can call Fro, Fro" Frosch said, smiling at Nana obviously liking her.

"It seems that Frosch has taken a liking to you" Yukino said to Nana finished with her muffin.

Nana smiled slightly at Yukino and turned her attention back to Frosch.

"Can Fro ask Nana, something?" Frosch asked.

"You can ask me anything" Nana replied.

"What are those on your head?"

"They are horns. Do you want to feel them?"

"Fro wants to feel" Nana then picked up Frosch and placed him on her head letting him feel her horns. "They are hard"

After a minute of feeling the horns, Frosch hopped off of Nana's head and onto Rogue's lap.

"Rogue. Fro likes Nana. He thinks Nana is nice"

"I like Fro too" Nana said, patting Frosch's head even though he was on Rogue's lap.

The gesture made Rogue smile at Nana. Nana caught that and smiled back.

' **It seems that you like this human.** ' A voice in Nana's head said in disgust.

"Y-you" Nana stuttered out scared out of her mind. It was her Voice. She thought she'd suppressed it and it had worked. So far her Voice hasn't talked to her in years, but now it suddenly was talking to her again. That thought frightened her.

"What's wrong, Nana?" Sting asked and saw Nana get up.

"I have to go" She answered.

"Go where?" Yukino asked as all of them were finished with breakfast.

"N-no time." Nana stuttered and ran out of the guild to get away from her friends. Just in case her Voice decided to attack them. She had a good control over her Voice but it seems that she can't control it forever.

"Nana, wait!" Yukino yelled out.

"Nyu!" Kaede yelled out too wanting Nana to come back.

"I'll get her" Rogue offered.

"Fro is going too" Frosch said, but Rogue stopped him telling Frosch to stay with the others. Frosch reluctantly agreed.

"But Fro wants to be with Nana" Frosch said as the green exceed in the pink frog costume watched Rogue's retreating back.

XXX

Nana was a few miles outside the guild, but stopped to catch her breath. It seemed she was in a town full of humans.

' _This isn't good_ ' Nana thought, but her Voice disagreed.

' **Actually, this is quite good. Great even. You've lost your touch in killing humans and this will get you back in shape.** '

' _Fuck off. I've never killed a human and never will_ ' Nana argued.

' **Language my dear Nana. What would your 'Papa' think if he heard you curse** '

"P-Papa" Nana said and began crying. "I miss Papa!"

The actions Nana was making made people passing by giving her strange looks. They noticed her horns and pulled their kids who were trying to go to Nana away from her.

' **Look at all those humans. You know they hate us. Why would you love those filthy creatures** '

' _Not all humans are bad. Papa wasn't bad._ '

' **You knew that he never thought of you as his daughter. You were just a replacement for his real daughter. What was her name? Ah, I remember. It was Mariko.** '

' _Papa never thought of me as a replacement_ '

' **Then why did he go and die with her** '

Nana refused to believe the Voice. She refused to believe that she was a mere replacement.

' _It's not true. It can't be true._ '

' **It is. Oh look I see some humans coming towards us. Let's kill them** '

' _NO! I refuse to let you kill them. Go back to where you came from and never return!_ '

' **Fine, but you'll regret your decision later** ' the Voice then went silent. She knew what the humans were going to do and only wanted to protect Nana. Even if it meant killing.

Nana saw two humans walking up to her. They were Travis and Jason.

"What do you want?" Nana asked them knowing something was wrong.

"What do we want? We want you"

"Look Jason. Those horns look like the ones that other freak had" Travis pointed out.

"The one that burned us?" Jason asked.

"Yes, that one"

"Then let's rough her up"

Nana was scared out of her mind and was backed into a corner. No one was around to help her out and she refused to harm these humans.

"You're not going to hurt us?" Travis asked.

Nana stayed silent, refusing to talk.

"That's good," Jason then ran up to her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her.

Nana tried to stand up, but Travis held her back not letting her move a muscle.

Jason smiled sadistically and pulled out a knife. She glared at him as he brought it closer. He thrust it right in her stomach, causing her to scream out in pain.

She now wanted to use her vectors to get out of there, but she was in so much pain that she couldn't even summon them.

Jason twisted the knife and pulled it out, leaving a deep wound there.

' _Diclonius like me may heal faster than humans, but if I don't get help soon I'll die_ ' Nana thought as she felt her vision go black.

A hard punch to her face caused her to wake back up.

"You are not sleeping anytime soon. This is my revenge for what your friend did to us" Travis said as he released his hold. Nana fell down on the ground, unable to move. She just took the blows that were directed at her.

Nana started crying, afraid now for her life. "Rogue" she said afraid that she couldn't see him again.

"Who's Rogue?" Travis asked Jason who only shrugged signaling that he didn't know either.

Travis lifted her up by her hair and asked "Who is Rogue?"

Nana looked in fear of her attackers afraid of them, but she lied saying "I don't know," she was afraid that if they can beat up a diclonius like her this badly. They can hurt Rogue too.

The knife went into her stomach again and she cried out. Her prosthetic limbs unattached themselves and she landed on the ground with a thud unable to move.

Nana heard footsteps and saw that Rogue was right behind her. She smiled weakly at him before fainting.

Rogue looked at Travis and Jason with an angry look in his eyes. He refused to waste any time and attacked the two with his shadows. He attacked with his Shadow Dragon's Roar which knocked the two out easily. He proceeded to tie them up with magic binding rope just in case the two can use magic.

Rogue ran up to Nana and kneeled down next to her. "Nana" Rogue said clearly worried for her.

Hearing his voice Nana woke up. "Rogue" she said and saw his face. She smiled, but soon the smile went away as pain coursed through her body. She couldn't even summon the energy to grab her prosthetics with her vectors and put them back on.

"My arms and legs" Nana said and Rogue looked at them understanding what she meant. He grabbed them in his arms and put them in his cloak. Grabbing Nana, he lifted her up and began walking back to Sabertooth.

"Sorry" Nana said as Rogue rushed to the guild. He refused to talk to her. It wasn't like he didn't want to. He just wanted to get her to safety.

He arrived quickly at the guild and rushed inside.

"I need help. Nana is severely injured" Rogue said.


	7. The Mission

Rogue caused several heads to turn when he rushed in, announcing the injured diclonius. Yukino and Frosch happened to be downstairs and saw the two, and ran over.

"Oh my god..." Yukino gasped when she saw Nana in the Shadow Dragon Slayer's arms. "What happened?"

"Two boys came and beat up Nana pretty bad." Rogue explained, his eyes setting down on Nana, and felt guilt rush into him. "Thankfully, I saw what was going on and stopped them in their tracks. But her wounds are critical and her limbs came off."

"Oh..." Yukino was torn to hear about that. "Well, at least you had saved her from those terrible boys."

Rogue revealed the prosthetics that he was holding in his cape, and it only caused the woman's eyes to widen in concern. Her eyes were fixed on the limbs for another second until she looked up at Rogue.

"I'll take the limbs." she told him, and Rogue lets the Celestial Wizard take the said fake body parts. "I'll walk with you and get some help."

"Fro will come too, and assist." the Exceed spoke up, and Rogue smiled. The three then went to find Sting and the others.

Rogue, Frosch, and Yukino walked to the living room with Nana in Rogue's arms where Kaede and Sting were taking a nap on the couch. Kaede was on top of Sting and Lector was at the other end of the couch sleeping too.

Yukino would've found it cute if it weren't for the emergency at hand. "Sting, wake up!" Yukino shouted, knowing he could hear her.

Sting's eyes shot open as he noticed Kaede on top of him. Blushing, he gently pushed her off of him, but that only ended up with Kaede landing on the floor.

Kaede woke up saying "What the hell, Sting?" Standing up, she smelt blood and noticed that it was Nana's. Walking over to her, she said "Let's get her to the infirmary, I know what to do"

Sting's eyes widened as he saw the state Nana was in. "What happened to her?" he asked.

"No time we have to get her to the infirmary quick" Kaede ordered and went to the infirmary with Nana in Rogue's arms, Lector, Sting, Frosch, and Yukino following Kaede into the room.

Once they got to the infirmary Rogue laid Nana on the bed who's breathing was labored.

"Nana" Rogue said worrying about his friend.

Kaede walked up to her vectors out as she put them on Nana.

Nana's eyes shot open as she awoke from being unconscious. She felt the vectors on her skin. Screaming in fear she began saying "No more! I don't want to die!"

Kaede sighed as she said "Rogue, can you calm her down?"

Rogue didn't say anything, just walked up to Nana putting a hand on her head, brushing a strand of pink hair out of her eyes.

Nana stopped screaming as she looked at Rogue. She was still frightened, because she was afraid that Kaede was going to take the only thing she had left. Her head.

While Rogue was comforting Nana, she didn't notice that Kaede was already done healing her.

Kaede's vectors retreated from Nana and back into her body. Kaede started to feel weak and light headed as she coughed up blood.

Sting rushed to Kaede's side as blood was dripping from her mouth. "Kaede needs help now" He said.

"I'll be fine. I healed Nana and this is the price I paid for doing it." Kaede said, wiping the blood from her lips and smiled at Sting for caring for her. Even if she didn't deserve it.

Kaede walked over to a chair and sat down. She still wasn't feeling the best in the world.

"Would you like some ice-water?" Yukino asked Kaede as she noticed the state that Kaede was in. Kaede was looking pale and Yukino wondered what exactly happened to Kaede.

Kaede nodded her head and Yukino went into the kitchen to get some ice-water for her.

"What happened to you?" Sting asked Kaede.

"I kind of overused my powers to heal Nana" Kaede said lightly laughing.

"This isn't funny. You could have seriously hurt yourself" Sting said _'Although her laugh does sound beautiful'_

The laughter ceased at what he had said. Kaede looked down at her hands that were currently resting in her lap. Before she could apologize, Yukino came in with a piece of paper in one hand and a glass of ice-water in the other.

"Here you are, Kaede" Yukino said, handing the queen diclonius the glass of ice-water.

"Thanks" Kaede said, accepting the ice-water. She took a sip and that immediately calmed her down. She was nervous being scolded by Sting for laughing about her condition, but she was calm now.

"What's that piece of paper you have there, Yukino?" Sting asked.

"It's a job request. It says that they need two dragon slayers to kill off a huge monster. The monster has been causing trouble for the residents of a nearby town."

"Where's this town located at?"

"It's the next town over from this one. So it'll only be a two hour train ride"

Sting face blanched at the thought of riding a train. Kaede was feeling the same dread.

"I guess I'll have to take Kaede with me since Rogue is busy taking care of Nana" Sting said, looking at Rogue who fell asleep by Nana's bed.

Rogue was sitting in a chair with his head over his arms. His arms were currently on Nana's bed.

 _'That's strange, Rogue never usually falls asleep like that. In fact, I never seen him do this before, except when Frosch is sick'_ Sting thought looking at the sight that was before him.

"I think that Rogue really cares for Nana" Yukino said.

"I see" Kaede said, looking at Nana then at Rogue. "Come on. We have that job to go to" Kaede said, walking out the door of the infirmary.

Sting sighed as he followed after Kaede. "We'll be back later on." he said to Yukino before shutting the door behind him.

He looked around for Kaede and noticed that she was standing by the front door of the guild. It seems that she was waiting for Sting.

"Did you wait long?" Sting asked.

Kaede shook her head while saying "Let's go. The sooner we kill this thing the sooner we can get back"

Sting wondered what was going on with Kaede. 'She seems upset. Maybe I can ask what's wrong' Sting was about to say something, but stopped himself. _'Then again, I shouldn't ask'_ "Alright, let's go"


	8. The Dream

Sting and Kaede were almost at the town for their mission. Sting noticed that Kaede still had that bothered, irritated look in her eyes as they were on the train. Actually, she looked like she felt guilty about herself. But the reason why was unknown to Sting.

He knew that he shouldn't ask her what is wrong, since he worried that will only worsen it. But he was concerned about her, and now felt the urge to ask the question.

"Kaede." he spoke up. The pink haired diclonius turned to face him. "I meant to ask this earlier before we left, but what's bothering you? Is it something I did, or the other Guild members did?"

Kaede shook her head, releasing a sigh. "No, it's not that. It's just that... when Nana was attacked by a group of boys not too long ago, I felt regret and remorse. I wasn't there to help her when she needed it, though Rogue went and saved her from those two terrible people." she had her arms crossed, and was rubbing one of them lightly with her right hand. "I... have a hunch that those boys that attacked her had also attacked me as well."

Sting went to say, "I see." but the last part made his eyes widen. "You do? How can you be sure?"

"Well, it's obvious that those boys didn't learn their lesson." Kaede told him, feeling fury rushing in her crimson eyes remembering them. "...Even when their friend got burned by my powers. I knew that they would be back again, but not that they would harm Nana. Nana..."

She now had her arms uncrossed, fists clenched in her lap. They were trembling as tears ran down her eyes. Sting's eyebrows descended down at seeing how sorrowful Kaede was over Nana. Not knowing what to do, he wiped the tears away from her eyes. She looked at him, and before she could say anything, the Dragon Slayer pulled her into an comforting embrace.

Blinking in surprise, she lifted up her hands, not really knowing what to say or do. But she eventually rested her hands on his back, returning the hug. "Thank you... Sting."

Throughout all that Sting had an ill look on his face, which confused Kaede. However Kaede soon had the same ill look on her face. They both held their heads out the window and released all the contents from their stomachs.

They got several looks from the other people on the train, which Kaede and Sting didn't even care about. All they cared about was getting off this train as soon as possible. Although they couldn't do that until they were at their destination.

"How long until we get there?" Kaede groaned out as she brought her head back in and laid down on the booth. Sting brought his head back in and laid down on his booth as well.

"Attention! We have a problem with the engine so the train ride will be slower than normal. Also, be prepared for a bumpy ride. We are going through a mountain. It will take about one more hour before we arrive at our destination. So until then, have fun on our train!" The captain of the train announced.

"Oh, God. Why?" Both Sting and Kaede said, both still looking ill.

Kaede and Sting were now sitting back down on their seats after their stomachs had stopped complaining. The pink-haired diclonius felt a bit dizzy from throwing up and her eyes were starting to close with drowsiness.

She fell into a deep sleep soon entering into a dream.

(Kaede's Dream)

Kaede was a lot younger than she was now, at the age of two. She was holding her father's hand as well as her mother's. Laughter was coming out of her throat as a smile was on her lips. Lucy and Natsu smiled at their daughter's expression happy to see her so cheerful.

"Mommy, Daddy. Where are we going?" Kaede asked them, in which Natsu's eyes perked up at his daughter's question.

"We're going somewhere special, dear." he told her. "It's one of your favorite places to go."

Kaede grinned. "Yay!"

Suddenly, the family was surrounded by people. The three looked at the people baffled of as to why they had such serious looks on their faces.

"What's... going on?" Kaede looked at the people, who was mostly looking at her. She was starting to get afraid.

"So is that child, even human?" One of them asked, their tone sounding as if they think someone is lying.

Kaede's parents looked at each other and then at their daughter. "What in the world do you mean?" Lucy questioned the odd crowd.

They didn't answer her, they just started walking forward. They grabbed Kaede tightly by the arms, taking her away from her parents.

Kaede screamed, calling her parents' names as this was happening. Lucy and Natsu went to step forward, but were stopped by two men.

The people that grabbed Kaede started beating her up. She suffered a punch after punch and kick after kick. Lucy and Natsu were becoming pained at seeing this happening to their daughter. They were also on the verge of tears.

Lucy slowly started reaching for her keys getting ready to protect her daughter. However, as she now held them in her hands, she saw something peculiar about the people bullying Kaede.

They were wizards as Lucy observed from the wands hanging from their belts.

 _'Damn it...'_ she thought. _'I should've known...'_

She hit one of the men blocking her and Natsu with her elbow, and stuck out one of her keys in front of her.

"Let go of my daughter or else!"

The people bullying Kaede saw Lucy as she was about to summon one of her Spirits. They started walking over to her with smiles on their faces. The smiles were creepy and they had something hiding behind their sleeves.

"So you're trying to protect her, aren't you?" one of them said. "How sweet."

One of them drew one of their wands, saying a few words to turn into a sword. They then thrust the sword right at Lucy, stabbing her right in the chest. Lucy's brown eyes widened as she gasped sharply, feeling the pain rushing through her.

Blood expelled from the stab, staining her shirt and the ground as the crimson liquid dripped onto it.

Her body collapsed to the ground as she let out her last breath. Kaede just stood there, horrified. "Mommy? MOMMY!"

Something cracked inside of Natsu as he saw this happen, and his fiery eyes set on the bullies and with one quick slash, he sliced all of the attackers in half, immense amounts of blood spraying from the bodies and covering the ground.

Silence, then entered the tragic scene as Natsu sighed sadly, walking over to Lucy's body. He picked it up, then turned around, making his way back home. Kaede, crying, followed him, asking him about Lucy, about what just happened.

Natsu didn't answer his daughter for tears ran down his face, making it unable for him to respond to her.

(End Dream)

Kaede woke up with a start, her breathing rapid. Sweat was running down her face. Sting saw that she had woken up from her dream and that she looked troubled.

"Kaede... ? Kaede, are you okay?"

Kaede turned towards Sting, but then went back into her lap. "I-I'm fine" Kaede lied. She just recalled about how her mother was killed. _'I was so young and helpless. I couldn't do... anything'_ She thought with a few tears dripping down her face.

'Something is definitely troubling Kaede. Maybe I should ask her about it?' Sting thought "Kaede" He said getting her attention.

"Yes?" She said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Tell me... what is troubling you?" He asked.

Kaede's expression grew sad, but she didn't cry this time. "I-I rather not talk about it. It's too painful to say" Kaede, then turned her head towards the window of the train and saw that they were almost to the station.

"We're here" Kaede said as she felt the train stop. Sting nodded his head, signaling that he had heard her.

Sting and Kaede were the first off the train, because they didn't want to spend another second on that dreadful vehicle. Once they got off the train they spotted two people. Two people who were very familiar to Sting and Kaede.

 _'Mother? Father?'_ Kaede thought looking at both Lucy and Natsu. She was surprised as to how her mother was still living and the appearance of her father. She then realized that this was their past selves. _'Ah so this must be them before I was born.'_ Kaede, then gave them a warm smile.

"Natsu-san, it's nice to see you here" Sting said. "It's nice to see you as well, Lucy"

"It's nice to be here. Actually, it was a surprise to see you here. We just got finished with a job."

"What kind of job?" Kaede asked them. 'I have to make sure that they don't know that I'm their future daughter'

"Well, we had to deliver this book to a wealthy businessman" Lucy said. Her eyes widened as she took in Kaede's appearance. "Wait... who are you?"

Kaede saw Lucy staring at her horns, but didn't pay much attention to it. "I'm Kaede"

"Well, Kaede. I'm Lucy Heartfilia and this is Natsu Dragneel"

"Nice to meet you" Kaede replied. She noticed that Natsu was looking away, not wanting to be in this boring conversation.

"Do you have a last name, Kaede?" Lucy asked.

"Umm..." Kaede said not knowing what to say.

"It's alright, you can tell them your last name" Sting said. Kaede gulped, nodding her head.

"M-my last name is Dragneel."

"So your full name is Kaede Dragneel?" Lucy asked, somewhat not believing her. _'Natsu never told me that he had a relative besides his adoptive father, Igneel. Could this be a trick?'_

Natsu walked up to Kaede and sniffed her. She froze, not sure what to say or do.

"You smell weird." Natsu stated. He went around her taking in her appearance as well. "You smell like me."

"I do? I never noticed." Kaede laughed nervously.

"Yes and why is your last name Dragneel?"

 _'Oh, shit...this is de-escalating quickly.'_ Kaede thought. "Um Sting and I have to go. We have a monster to take care of, goodbye!" Kaede said, dragging Sting and running away from her parents.

"You are welcome to come to visit Fairy Tail if you want!" Lucy yelled after them watching them run away.

 _'I just might go visit them there, but not right now'_ Kaede thought.


	9. The Hydra

Nana was now resting, but was still in the infirmary. She slowly opened up her eyes. Though her vision was blurry for a moment, she stood up only to feel a rush of pain hit her and she slumped her head back down on the pillow. _'A pillow?'_

"I had brought you a pillow and a blanket to keep you comfortable." she heard Rogue's voice, causing her to turn her head slightly. She could see his calm expression and warm smile looking at her. "But I am glad to see you awake."

"Oh..." Nana took a deep breath, which came out as a short burst of air. "H... how long... have I been out?"

Rogue rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "For a couple of hours. I've been here since then to keep an eye on you."

The pink-haired diclonius felt her cheeks flush from the Shadow Dragon Slayer's kindness. "T-Thanks... but you didn't have to..."

Rogue lifted up his shoulders. "Well, I don't want to leave you here all alone. Otherwise, it would be quiet and lonely."

 _'That's true...'_ Nana thought, then another thought came to her. "Where is Lucy-san, Rogue?"

"You mean, Kaede?" Rogue lifted up his eyebrows, then relaxed them. "She went with Sting on a mission to stop a huge monster that is invading a city near our Guild."

Nana didn't respond to his answer, she just remained silent. She had wanted to thank Kaede for helping tend to her wounds earlier. Even though it damaged her, but it seemed that Kaede must have been in a hurry.

"They'll be back in a little while." Rogue spoke up to help ease her nervousness. It seemed to work when he saw her relieved smile. "Say, what about we talk for the time being? We have had some interactions here and there, including when I saved you from those two creeps." he frowned remembering that horrible scene. "But I thought it would be nice to get to know you better."

Nana felt her cheeks redden once more, but she let out a weak giggle. "Okay."

The two instantly hit it off, first starting with their interests, and then Nana asking how life is here at the Sabertooth Guild. As he was telling her the story, beginning with his first time here, she had her maroon eyes on him, gazing into his eyes.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she was doing. _'What... is going on? Why do I suddenly feel all mushy inside? Is it because of Rogue...?'_ she shook her head. _'No, it can't be...'_

Rogue noticed her confused look, pausing the story. "Are you alright, Nana?"

Nana locked her eyes on the dark-haired man instantly, then quickly looked away. "I-I'm fine... um... you can continue..."

 _'Now my heart is going at a faster pace... but I can't help it...'_ she thought aside. _'Rogue is so handsome and... and...'_

"If you're not feeling alright for the time being, I can continue the story later."

Nana assured him that she's alright and that she would love to hear more about the story. So with a sigh, Rogue continued where he left off.

The sixteen year old diclonius carefully turned to her side and sunk the side of her head into the pillow. A shy smile came across her face as she blushed.

When he finished the story, he saw that Nana had fallen asleep. He knew that she enjoyed the story. _'I guess the healing of her wounds had tired her out...'_ he pondered. _'I'll let her sleep.'_

He leaned forward, moving the blanket up so it was now at Nana's shoulder level. _'She does look adorable when she's asleep...'_ he thought, but felt his cheeks redden. _'W-What am I thinking? Nana's sixteen, I'm nineteen. I shouldn't be thinking stuff like that.'_

 **XXX**

Kaede and Sting went through the town in search of clues on where to find this 'Monster' they were supposed to kill. It required two Dragon Slayers which means that the monster had to be horrific.

"When are we going to find that damn thing?!" Kaede exclaimed with a blaze of fire surrounding her, showing off her anger at not being able to locate the monster.

"Kaede, calm down. You're going to hurt other people with those flames." Sting said calmly.

"How can I be calm when we don't even know what it looks like!" She yelled the fire growing brighter with her emotions. Everyone began to feel the air around them become humid and started sweating.

"Kaede, you're making a scene. I know that you want to get this job over with and so do I, but we have to be calm."

"Fine" Kaede said, taking a deep breath and let it out slowly. The flames than died down and the air began to become much more cooler.

That was when Kaede heard two girls talking about her. She knew eavesdropping was wrong, but she couldn't help but listen to the conversation. It was about her after all.

"That girl must be new to Sabertooth"

"Yeah, but look at those things on her head."

"I noticed that too. They look like horns"

"Eew Freaky" the two girls said together.

Kaede began feeling angry, but fire didn't appear around her. This time her vectors came out instead. _'I'll show you who's freaky'_ she thought causing her vectors to go straight at the girls. They stopped centimeters away from their faces. _'No this is wrong. I can't allow myself to do stuff like this anymore'_

The vectors then retreated back into Kaede's body. _'Although the feeling of blood lust is coming back.'_

Kaede shook her head to clear it of such thoughts...thoughts of killing others. 'I need to get out of this area' "Come on Sting let's go and find that monster" She didn't give him time to answer her, Kaede just grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him with her. She could feel her bloodlust slowly going away with each step she took.

Kaede let out a sigh of relief, but that feeling didn't last long because Sting and her heard a loud screeching noise and people running the opposite direction away from the sound.

"I think we found our monster" Sting said.

"Yeah" Kaede said smiling, finally excited to do some damage. For some reason she wanted to say 'I'm all fired up', but she didn't.

The two began running towards the place where the monster was. When they got there, they saw that it was a hydra with six heads.

"Damn that is one big creature" Kaede said looking at the size of the monster. It must've been as tall as a building.

Sting silently agreed with Kaede. That hydra was one big creature.

"Well then let's get this over with" Kaede said igniting her fists in flames. She then began rushing at the beast using her vectors to help her gain some height.

"Kaede, wait! We need a plan!" Sting called out after her, but it seems that she couldn't hear him.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Kaede yelled out rising into the air with the help of her vectors and punching the hydra right in one of their jaws.

The hydra screeched loudly, obviously in pain. She leaped away from it as one of its' heads began to go after her.

"Are you going to help!" Kaede said, calling after Sting.

 _'Should I help out?'_ he thought then decided _'Nah, this will be part of her training and how well she controls her powers.'_ "No, I think I'll just stay here and let you handle it!" Sting yelled back.

"What the hell-Woah!" Kaede said as she dodged another head. _'I have an idea'_ Kaede, then began to lead the heads together into a knot by dodging and running around it's body so it would be able to chase her. Eventually the hydra's heads were all tied up together and it couldn't move.

"Time to finish this" Kaede sent her vectors at the hydra cutting off all six heads and slicing the body in half. That caused a bunch of blood to be on Kaede's clothes. She didn't mind that much, because she used to kill in the past. However, now she doesn't or at least tries not to.

Kaede goes down over to Sting and says "I'm done"

"Great job, Kaede" Sting complimented her, but then saw the bloody clothes. "Kaede?"

"Yes?"

"Your clothes are all blood stained."

"Oh, that must've been when I killed that hydra."

"You might want to get that cleaned up"

"I can't right now, because I don't have any spare clothes with me"

"I see, let's just wait until we get back to the guild then. Hopefully no one will give us bad looks"

"I ag-" Before Kaede could say anything back she sensed another diclonius. She could feel it was very close, almost too close.

"Kaede, what's wrong?"

Kaede didn't say anything back to Sting, she just followed the presence until she was right behind the hydra.

"Who are you and come out?" Kaede said in a threatening voice clearly not in the mood to play hide and seek.

Slowly a young girl around the age of four years old came out from behind a tree. She had on rags and had hair as short of Nana's, one side was black while the other side was pink. Her eyes were red and were staring right at Kaede as if studying her.

Suddenly the girl's face broke out into a huge smile and she yelled out "Auntie!" and began hugging her.


	10. Lilian Meets Sabertooth

It was turning dark when the young diclonius suddenly hugged Kaede. Kaede, shocked, couldn't say anything, but when she finally found her voice, she asked the girl "Who are you?"

The girl who finally let go of Kaede's leg said, "I'm Lilian. You should remember that Auntie" Lilian giggled at what she thought was Kaede's forgetfulness.

Kaede was more confused when the girl called her, her Aunt. She didn't have a niece, didn't she? "You can't be my niece, Lilian, because I don't remember even having a brother or a sister."

"Huh?" Lilian asked confused too. 'Doesn't Aunt Kaede remember me?' Lilian then realized that this wasn't her Aunt that she knew. She started tearing up while crying out "Auntie! Aunt Kaede!"

Sting stepped up to be beside Kaede and looked at the girl and than to Kaede. "What are we going to do?"

"I have no idea" Kaede replied while Lilian was still crying. She felt bad, so she picked Lilian up in her arms and gently rubbed her back, which made her stop crying. ' _I didn't know I had any motherly instincts_ ' she thought then realized something while holding onto Lilian. Kaede looked at Lilian, who was starting to fall asleep in her arms.

Sting's eyes somewhat widened as he realized that this young diclonius girl called Lilian looked an awful lot like Nana and Rogue. Sting began to say something, but was cut off by Kaede's glare. It was as if she was telling him not to say anything. Sting nodded his head as Kaede walked on. Seeing what her intentions were, he followed her to the train station.

On the way there people gave Kaede looks, because her clothes were all blood stained. They were all frighted because they thought that she had just killed a person. They could only move out of the way so that Kaede and Sting could get by. Kaede just ignored them and continued walking on with Sting to the station.

They arrived at the sation and payed the money to get out of the train. Once on the train, Kaede and Sting found an area with two booths. Kaede carefully laid Lilian down on one booth while she and Sting sat on another. They hadn't really sat side by side on a train before, since Kaede was always on the opposite side of Sting. Turning her head away so she could hide the blush that was beginning to form on her cheeks.

Hearing Lilian turn in her sleep, which almost made her fall off the booth and onto the hard ground below. Kaede seeing that used her vectors to stop her from falling and lifted her back up into the booth. Luckily the four year old didn't wake up.

With a sigh, Kaede began to watch her supposed niece with a smile on her face. ' _I wish I new what she mean by I'm her Aunt._ '

Sting somewhat realizes that Kaede was feeling confused, asked in a whisper careful not to wake Lilian up. "What's wrong, Kaede?" He asked.

Not turning her head to look at him, she replied back in a whisper, "I was just thinking what did Lilian mean by that I'm her Aunt."

"Yeah, should we take her with us to Sabertooth or leave her to an orphanage?" Sting asked.

Kaede froze when she heard the word 'orphanage' from Sting. Remembering what her life was like in an orphanage, she told him, "We should take her to Sabertooth. An orphanage will do her no good"

The train soon arrived at the stop they were supposed to get off at. Kaede gently picked Lilian up from the booth and put her in her arms. To her surprise Lilian didn't even wake up.

"She must've been more exhausted than we thought" Sting said as he stood up.

Kaede nodded her head and the three headed out of the train and onto the platform.

Kaede and Sting were walking down the streets towards their guild when suddenly a cold burst of wind blew by, which caused Lilian to shiver. "Let's get her to the guild. She can't wear those rags forever" Kaede said.

"Yes, she will catch a cold at this rate" Sting replied.

The two walked until they got to the guild. Kaede happened to spot a blanket in the middle of the floor. She didn't care if it were dirty, she just wanted to put something on Lilian.

"I'll be going to my room now" Sting said.

Kaede nodded her head before saying "I'm going to do the same."

With that, the two went their separate ways. Kaede went up to her room and placed Lilian down carefully on the bed, but not before pulling the blankets back. She didn't want to disrupt the child's slumber.

Kaede then left the room, closing the door as softly as she could so she wouldn't wake the diclonius.

"Yukino!" she called the white-haired girl's name, causing the girl to turn around. "Do you have an outfit for another diclonius?"

"Sure." Yukino then raised an eyebrow. "Who is this other diclonius?"

Kaede felt tension build up inside of her. She sighed "Don't say anything to Nana and Rogue, okay?"

The girl's eyes relaxed as she gave the pink-haired girl an understanding nod. "I promise."

Kaede then told Yukino how the mission had gone, including how she and Sting came across Lilian in the first place. She had brought this up as to not confuse the Celestial Wizard.

Yukino nodded, then excused herself for a moment so she could find a small outfit. She appeared a minute later with a small outfit, giving it to Kaede.

Kaede smiled. "Thank you." Yukino welcomed her in return.

Kaede then made her way back to her room with the small outfit.

Kaede went into her bed, which Lilian was currently laying on and fell asleep immediately.

 **XXX**

Sting and the rest of the guild were awake and eating breakfast. However, Sting was worried about Kaede since she was sleeping so long. He mentally sighed and thought ' _I guess I'll wake her up_ ' He stood up out of his chair, but before he could get far Rogue asked him

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to wake Kaede up She has slept long enough. It is past ten after all"

Rogue didn't say anything, he just nodded his head to show that he understood.

 **XXX**

Kaede was still sleeping, although Lilian was wide awake and waiting for her Aunt to wake up. ' _I wish Auntie would wake up already, I'm bored._ ' Lilian thought laying back on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

There was a knock on the door and Lilian went to get it. However, she couldn't open the knob, so she used one of her vectors to open it. When she did, Sting came inside and saw that Lilian was awake.

"You're awake, Lilian?" He asked

"Yep, I am Uncle Sting."

"I'm going to wake Kaede up now"

"I'll help!" Lilian said excitedly running over to Kaede and jumping on the bed. "Auntie! Time to wake up!"

The movement of the bed caused Kaede to open up her eyes. She saw Lilian standing on the bed and Sting on the other side of the room.

"What's going on here?" She asked.

"Well, I went here to wake you up, but it seems that Lilian did it instead" Sting answered.

Kaede knew that she needed to get her and Lilian dressed, so she told Sting. "Get out, me and Lilian are getting dressed for the day"

Sting didn't say anything, he just left the room and went downstairs to the others.

Kaede sighed, then looked at Lilian and smiled. "Well, let's get you dressed into the nice outfit that Yukino gave you"

"Okay!" Lilian said smiling happily.

Kaede walked over to Lilian and took off her clothes that were rags. She then went to where Lilian's outfit was and got it out. It was a blue dress with white sparkles on it. ' _It seems like Yukino has a good sense of fashion_ '

Kaede walked over to Lilian and put the dress on her. Kaede then got undressed herself and put on an outfit. It was a red sleeveless top with blue jeans. "Alright, let's get our hair combed and towards where everyone else is."

"Alright, Auntie" Lilian said. Kaede got out a brush off of her dresser and began combing Lilian's hair. When she was done, Kaede combed her own hair.

"Well we're finished so let's just go greet everybody, alright"

The two walked towards the guild hall where everyone was at. Once there Kaede introduced Lilian to the guild. "This is Lilian, she's new here so be nice to her."

They all sad "Hello" to Lilian and then went back to doing what they were doing at first.

Lilian looked around the guild hall and spotted Rogue and Nana, her parents. ' _H-how, weren't they dead?_ ' Lilian thought while tears formed in her eyes. They dropped to the ground as she looked at her parents who were alive again.

Kaede seeing what was going on put her hand on Lilian's shoulder and told her "Everything will be okay"

Lilian sniffed and wiped her tears away with her arm. "O-okay." she said.

"Alright, you all. I'm going to be showing Lilian here around the guild." The rest of the guild didn't say anything, but Kaede could tell that they all understood. She looked down at Lilian, who already knew around the guild.

' _But the guild looks different somehow than what I remember it being like. Maybe I really do need Auntie to show me around_ ' Lilian thought.

"Is it okay if I show you around Sabertooth, Lilian?" Kaede asked gently not wanting to scare the young diclonius girl.

Kaede and Lilian then began walking side by side around the guild. "The place you just been at was the guild hall. Everyone eats their food there."

"Uh-huh" Lilian said, nodding her head.

The two turned a corner and came to the dormitory of the guild.

"These are the dormitories. It's where everyone sleeps at. You already know where I sleep at, right?"

"Yes, I do." Lilian looked like she wanted to say something else.

"Lilian, is anything the matter?" Kaede asked concerned.

"U-um" Lilian began, but stopped. ' _Can I really ask where my parents' rooms are?_ '

"You know, you can talk to me about anything"

' _I guess I can ask her_ ' "I-is it alright, i-if you showed me where my parents' rooms are at?"

"You want to know where Rogue and Nana's rooms are?"

"Yes, please" Lilian said with a pleading look in her eyes. Tears started forming while thinking that Kaede might not take her to see the rooms.

Kaede smiled warmly and said "Of course"

Lilian's tears went away and she started following Kaede to where Rogue's room was. "Here is Rogue's room. Although I don't want you to go i there. At least not now, Lilian."

"Okay"

Next we go to Nana's room. It's the same thing here, don't go in that room either."

"Auntie?" Lilian questioned.

"Yes, Lilian?"

"Why can't I go into my parents' rooms?"

"Well, it's because we don't want Rogue and Nana knowing that you are their child?

"Why not?"

Kaede sighed, she didn't want to answer yet another question from the four year old.

"I can't answer that right now"

"Alright" Lilian said looking downcast.

Kaede had an idea that might cheer Lilian up. "Hey, why don't we go to the guild hall and meet your parents."

"Really?!" Lilian asked cheering up some.

Kaede nodded her head and the two began walking towards the guild hall.

They began to turn a corner, when Kaede was suddenly tackled by a red exceed with black eyes. Kaede realized that it was Lector, "Lector?" she asked while looking down into her arms where she was holding him in.

Lector happened to glance at a young girl that was beside Kaede. He was curious as to who the girl was so he asked, "Who's this new girl beside you?"

"That's, Lilian" Kaede told him. She looked beside her to see Lilian hiding behind her left leg. Lilian was scared, but not scared enough to go into her shadows.

"Lilian, why don't you say hello to Lector?" Kaede asked, trying to get Lilian to come out from behind her left leg.

Eventually Lilian came out from behind Kaede and said timidly to Lector "H-hello" She didn't know why, but Lector glared at her, which made her go into her shadows and to another part of the guild while she was in her shadows.

"Lector" Kaede said in an upset tone.

"Yeah" Lector said kind of afraid of Kaede for the moment.

"Why'd you glare at Lilian. You knew she was scared" Kaede put her hands on her hips while looking down at Lector whom she put on the ground.

"I-I" Lector stuttered. He didn't want to apologize, but he knew that he had to. "I'm sorry that I scared Lilian, alright" he said then flew into the guild where Sting was in.

"Great" Kaede sighed "Now I have to find Lilian. I don't even know what part of the guild she went to."

 **XXX**

Lilian was close to the guild hall, but didn't want to come out when she was in shadow form so she went into a corner of the guild right near the guild hall, but not in sight and appeared from out of her shadow form.

She went to the guild where she saw Sting and the others. She ran up to Sting where he picked her up. She giggled as she was in her arms.

Rogue looked over towards where Lilian was in Sting's arms with a curious look.

Lilian looked over at her father and asked Sting to put her down. Sting puts her down and Lilian ran out of the guild hall and into her shadows again.


	11. Secrets Revealed

It was past two o'clock and Kaede still couldn't find Lilian. ' _I wonder where she is_ ' she thought looking all around the guild. She didn't think of sensing for her presence, she only looked around. She walked around until she went to the guild hall.

Kaede noticed Sting and the others and asked them, "Do you know where Lilian went?"

"Last time I saw her was here, but she left a while ago" Rogue answered.

"I see," Kaede said.

"Why do you want to know where Lilian is?" Nana asked walking up to Kaede.

"She ran off from me, because Lector scared her" Kaede answered her.

"I see, well, I hope you have luck in finding her" Sting said.

Kaede smiled and said before turning to look back for Lilian "I will"

 **XXX**

Lilian was still hiding in her shadows, because she was still afraid. She wandered through the guild more until she came in front of her mother's room. ' _Why did I come here?_ ' she thought.

Lilian looked to see if it was safe to come out, she saw that it was and came out of her shadows. She stood in front of the door and pondered if she should go in or not ' _Auntie said not to, but this is my mommy's room._ ' Lilian then decided that she had to go in that room, so she used her vectors to turn the handle and walked in. It was a very neat room and smelled just like Nana. She only remembered her parents' smell and the picture that Sting and Kaede showed her of them. She smiled as she remembered their smell and the pictures. "I bet they really did love me"

Lilian than decided to go out of the room and to the guild hall, but she didn't want anyone to see her, so she went into her shadows to get there.

 **XXX**

When Kaede was outside the guild hall, she grabbed her head as if in pain. She knew something was happening and that she couldn't stop it. By the time the pain was over Kaede's evil personality came into the open. ' _I can sense my kind and it's not a silpelit like that traitor. I guess I'll find her_ '

Kaede followed her senses until she stood in front of a wall close to the guild hall. "Come out," she ordered. She saw a young diclonius come out from within a shadow and stand in front of Kaede.

"Um, hello Auntie. I'm sorry I ran away from you. I was really scared" Lilian apologized once she met her Aunt again.

Kaede stood in front of Lilian looking confused ' _Who is she?_ ' Kaede noticed that she looked really young and felt that she had just gained her vectors a year ago. She smiled wickedly as she thought ' _So she's a new one, huh? Well, I can use her to my avantages_ '

Kaede looked at Lilian some more before saying "Follow me"

Lilian nodded and walked with Kaede while thinking ' _Auntie is acting different_ '

They eventually reached the guild hall and the two entered at the same time.

"I see that you found Lilian" Yukino said, smiling over towards Kaede.

' _So that's this girl's name._ ' Kaede thought looking down at Lilian. Kaede put a soft hand on Lilian's head, which made her look up at Kaede.

"Huh? Auntie?" Lilian said, confused.

"I want you to do something for me, Lilian"

"What do you want me to do?"

Kaede said with a dark smile "Kill everyone here"

Lilian gasped and said "I can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because killing is wrong. Plus, I never killed anybody before"

"It's alright to kill these humans and that traitor over there" Kaede pointed towards Nana when she said the word 'traitor'

Lilian's eyes widened once she saw her Aunt point towards her Mom ' _She wants me to kill Mother and Father. Why?_ '

"I'm sorry Auntie, but I can't do that. All those people are dear to me" Lilian said denying Kaede.4

Fine then I'll do it myself. Just watch and learn, Lilian." Kaede walked up to the guild members to see Nana already standing up with her vectors out.

"Do you really think a puny silpelit such as you are a match for me?" Kaede questioned and knew that Nana couldn't even stand a chance against her.

"I defeated you before and I'll do it again!" Nana yelled out towards Kaede.

"Yes, but you had help and I won't allow myself to be defeated a second time" Kaede said, walking over towards Nana whom was standing more than two meters. Kaede brought her vectors out and send them towards Nana, but before they could reach her, Lilian ran in front of Nana taking the blow for her.

Kaede's eyes narrowed as she asked "Why would you do that? Why would you protect that traitor?"

Lilian struggled to get off the floor with one of her ribs broken. "I-it's because I really love her" Lilia forced a smile on her face, but winced and fell down again because of the pain she was in.

Nana ran over to Lilian and looked at her, then back at Kaede and yelled. "Lucy-san! Why would you do this?! She's just a four year old!"

Kaede moved a piece of hair out of the way of her eyes and said "She was in the way"

Nana gasped at what Kaede said. "I knew you were evil, but I didn't know that you would actually hurt a child"

"She'll heal fast"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

Nana felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see who had touched her, she found out that it was Rogue.

Nana, that's enough. I know how you feel, but we can't let our anger get the best of us. If we want to defeat Kaede, then we'll have to work together" Rogue said.

"All of us?" Nana asked.

"Yes, all of us" Sting answered while stepping up next to Nana and Rogue

Kaede just gazed at them with an amused look on her face. "Idiots" she said and released her vectors at Rogue, but he dodged them. Her eyes widened at what she say. "How can you dodge my vectors? No human is supposed to see them"

"I can't see them, but I can sense them" Rogue said with a dark aura beginning to surround him.

Sting stepped up beside Rogue and let a light aura surround him.

"I can she will be fun" Kaede said and rushed more of her vectors at them. She had more than four vectors now and could easily wipe out these humans. If it weren't for a certain personality begging for her to stop.

Sting and Rogue dodged her attacks, but with some difficulty since Kaede's vectors were fast. Sting entered white drive and dragon force.

Kaede saw a white blur and felt her face being punched. She fell to the ground, because of the force of the attack. She looked up from where she was at and saw that it was Sting that attacked her. She couldn't say anything, because she was shocked that a human like him could hit her like that. She also couldn't attack, because her other personality was stopping her. She wasn't scared, just surprised.

'I can't gain control of my vectors' Kaede thought while standing up. "Dammit" she muttered.

"Look at Lilian! Look at what you did to her!" Sting yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You've hurt her badly."

Kaede turned her head to see the young diclonius on the floor unconscious. She didn't know why, but she felt guilty.

"Kaede" Sting said, which made her turn her head towards him, but right when she did he kissed her. Her eyes widened as she thought ' _What is this human doing?_ ' She tried to struggle out of the kiss, but he only held on tighter. ' _This isn't so bad_ ' Kaede thought not struggling anymore. She could feel herself go into the darkness of her mind and her other personality came out.

Sting released her from the kiss and saw the confusion on Kaede's face. "W-why did you kiss me?" Kaede asked blushing.

Sting sort of blushed too "Well I...I thought it would help you switch back," he said knowing that it was the Kaede he knew.

"I...I see" Kaede replied, then looked over at Lilian, whom Nana was holding. Kaede rushed to her side and kneeled down.

Nana saw her and was going to attack, but saw that Kaede was back to normal. Nana saw tears from in Kaede's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Lilian. You tried to protect everyone because of me. I'm sorry, will you ever forgive me" Kaede's tears dripped down her face and onto the ground below. "I-I'm so sorry"

Nana was surprised that Kaede could apologize like this "L-Lucy-san" Nana said in a whisper, so that no one could hear her.

"Let's get Lilian to the infirmary so that she can heal" Rogue said and took her out of Nana's arms and headed to the infirmary.

"Let's follow him" Yukino said following Rogue. The others did as well.

Once in the infirmary, Rogue laid Lilian down on one of the beds. He looked at her and saw that she was still in pain.

Kaede walked up and looked at Lilian too, she said "I can't do anything for broken ribs. They will have to heal on its' own"

"How long will it take to heal?" Rogue asked Kaede.

"Until the morning comes"

"So she'll stay here the entire right" Sting said looking at Lilian too.

"That's right,"

"I'll stay with Lilian while she gets better" Nana offered and said in a chair that was beside the bed.

Rogue looked at Nana then at Kaede. He wanted to know what Kaede was hiding. "Kaede" he said.

"Yes?"

"Is there something you're hiding?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, what exactly do you mean, Rogue?" Yukino asked and Sting wondered the same thing.

"I felt it for some time now, but there is something that Kaede is hiding."

Kaede sighed as she said "Fine, I'll tell you all I know"

Kaede walked up to a chair and sat down. The others surrounded her.

"I guess I could start with my parents," she said. "My father is END, which is Natsu and Lucy Dragneel whom is my mother."

"Lucy Dragneel?" Yukino asked.

"I think you know her better as Lucy Heartfilia."

"I see" Yukino said

"Your father is END?" Rogue asked Kaede. She nodded her head.

"And Natsu is END?" Sting asked as well.

"END stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel" Kaede answered.

"I've never seen Natsu as END though" Roue said, wondering if Kaede was really tellng the truth "Where are you from Kaede?"

"About five hundred years into the future" She answered.

"That far! How did you manage to come back here?!" Sting asked.

"I don't know, but I think it was on the day you found me in front of Sabertooth all injured."

"Does Natsu look different as END?" Yukino asked.

Nana stayed silent, because she didn't know what was going on. ' _Lucy-san is over five hundred years old?!_ '

"Yes, he does look different. He has large white horns that are curled some. Black markings on his face and body, claws, and dragon wings. I hardly recognized him when we saw him at the station. Sting was there with me"

"How come you never told any of us this before?" Yukino asked.

"I thought that you would hate me" Kaede said "I'm going to continue now"

"My mother is dead. She died when I was only five years old while trying to protect me. Dad killed those people and then raised me all by himself for many years. When I turned five hundred I decided to turn my appearance into an eight year old. THat was when dad dropped me off at an orphanage. When I asked him why, he only told me that it was for me to get stronger. That was the last time I saw him."

"I see," Rogue said, then gazed at Kaede some more. "Is there anything else you're not telling us?"

Nana looked over at Lilian. I agree with Rogue. There is something else Lucy-san's not telling us" Nana ran a prosthetic hand through Lilian's hair. She was examining her and saw that Lilian looked like a miniature version of her. Ecept that she had black and pink hair and red eyes. ' _She sort of looks like me and Rogue_ ' Nana thought still gazing at the four year old. ' _But, how? I am a silpelit. I'm not able to have children._ ' Nana looked back over at Kaede and asked. "Is Lilian from the future too?"

"Yes, about five years into it"

"I'm guessing she's from a different future than you and Nana?" Rogue asked, knowing that Lilian was his and Nana's daughter by the smell.

"Yes, she is" Kaede answered.

"Why didn't you tell us that Lilian's mind and Nana's daughter?" Rogue asked.

"I don't know" Kaede said.

"What happened to her parents? I mean future Rogue and Me" Nana asked.

"She told us that you died when she was only a year old"

"The time she came from is five years and she's four now, so..." Nana said.

"Yes, according to Lilian, Rogue and you will die in two years"

Yukino's eyes widened as she heard that and was surprised "Really?!"

Sting nodded sadly. "Yes, according to Lilian we raised her since she was a year old. She doesn't even remember who her parents are. She only knows them because of the pictures I and Kaede showed her."

"I guess she also remembers you by smell" Kaede said.

"I understand" Rogue then decided "I'm going to stay with Nana to watch over Lilian" He looked over at Nana seeing that she was asleep. He sat down in a chair next to her.

Kaede yawned and said "I'm going to my room to go to bed. So goodnight guys" She then walked out of the infirmary.

Yukino and Sting decided to go to their rooms as well. So with that everyone went to bed.


End file.
